Yet Another Cycling Forum

Off Topic => The Pub => Topic started by: pdm on 24 March, 2020, 12:22:29 pm

Title: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: pdm on 24 March, 2020, 12:22:29 pm
Well, here we are, at last. In Lock-Down. It won't make that much difference to us - we are in a higher risk group and have been self distancing for a couple of weeks already..

However, I'm sure there will be quirks and incidents to gas about (qv)
I'll kick off.

Day 1:

Busiest morning for a long while, this one.

Gas smelt in kitchen. Turns out our stove (an old 1950's Aga, one of the originals?) is leaking naughty stuff. Our tame service engineer turns up fully clad is industrial HAZMAT to have a look - with us tucked well away in another room. Seems a new burner unit is needed but all the shops are shut so he's off out there trying to pull in favours... Meanwhile we are texting all our friends and local support group to see if anyone has a portable electric hob - none so far but its early yet... Maybe Amazon will deliver :)

Next get a call from a good friend - front wheel puncture. His bicycle is his and his wife's only form of exercise. They are also both "high risk" so we arrange a pantomime of leaving the bicycle in my drive for me to fix and then wipe down before leaving it out for them to collect again...

SWMBO then gets spring cleaning fever (perhaps HAZMAT induced??) so I get the pleasure of vacuuming the whole house from bottom to top.

Out of Milk so nip down to local Co-Op 800 yards away (thankfully) to not mingle with the sparse crowd and get the last 3 pints. Most of the shelves are empty but no matter: we have a rarity to look forward to: A Tesco delivery this evening (one of the last available when we booked it, it turns out) I wonder how much of our modest order will materialise? No, no toilet rolls on the order.

Its Noon now and I am knackered! An afternoon of relaxation beckons - perhaps with a bit of Zwifting later... (free trial to see whats its like in the event of not being able to go outside)

Be safe and well out there!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 24 March, 2020, 12:54:43 pm
I'm just going shopping.  I may be some time...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Hot Flatus on 24 March, 2020, 01:03:49 pm
Its 1pm and I'm still in my dressing-gown.

I have, however, done a full day's work.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 24 March, 2020, 01:12:40 pm
Barakta's decided to hang on to her broken hearing aid, rather than sending it to some postal service / NHS / manufacturer limbo never to be seen again.  They can't program the feedback elimination properly without physical access to her head, anyway.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 24 March, 2020, 01:13:48 pm
The street cleaning lorry came around. On a good working day it has to slalom in and out between parked cars and is pretty useless at anything other than making a wet stripe down the middle of the road.

I doubt it saw the gutter today.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 24 March, 2020, 01:17:06 pm
last Friday, we planned a virtual happy hour this afternoon, immediately after another of our regular work planning calls

Started on the garden yesterday, reducing the over population of thuggish red-hot pokers. Now wondering where i can get flower seeds from online?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 24 March, 2020, 01:32:21 pm
The skip *thunking* (and today bonus grinding) has yet to cease from the SMERSH HQ construction up the road. I think they're digging out the shark tanks today.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: phantasmagoriana on 24 March, 2020, 01:36:48 pm
I have been mostly wrestling with Excel. And eating.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wombat on 24 March, 2020, 02:36:59 pm
Went to the local preserved railway this morning to work with one other person to make everything safe and secure for an extended closed period (lots of safety related stuff to attend to), and filled up the car at the nearest (NOT the cheapest) filling station, and also filled a can for the mower, as the grass has decided its time to grow.  Back home and sat in the sun drinking coffee and wandering about the garden planning what we're going to do to it while my external activities are curtailed.  Luckily we have a nice big garden, plenty to do in it (mostly because the weather has been so crap for months that we couldn't do anything outside) and we're in a very rural area so being in the front garden doesn't put us at risk, because there's no-one to walk by (and the front verge is more than 2m wide anyway).

Hopefully now Wales won't get invaded by hordes of selfish twats intent on killing us with the virus many of them must carry. We have a minimal and thinly spread NHS round here, we already know that having a heart attack here could be fatal due to hospital transit time, we bought our home here in that knowledge, but we can't afford to have others that live in Surrey or whatever, overloading it.

People tend to forget that for us, there is no "nipping round to the shops", shopping is a major expedition, undertaken as infrequently as possible, so yes, we do need at least one monster pack of bog rolls, and 4 each of lots of normal domestic items.  it's a 70 mile round trip to the nearest big Sainsburys, and also my car's MOT and servicing place (booked for April 1st).  We knew that when we moved here, but its not helpful when other people stop us from getting food and necessary items because they want 14 years supply of bogrolls and other stuff in their homes 1 mile from the shops. 

Thankfully we are both healthy, and under 70.  Despite all this stuff, we're very glad we moved here 2 years ago!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 24 March, 2020, 02:41:15 pm
I've become one of those ghastly people that walks round with a Bluetooth earpiece.

Sorry.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Peter on 24 March, 2020, 03:00:03 pm
Wombat, what you complain of is largely true in bulk for almost everyone who wasn't an initial shelf-raider.  I live 400 yards from a supermarket and it's the same as living 15 miles away if there is nothing on the shelves.  On the plus side, we are much more likely to catch the virus than anyone living in wild Wales.

But, like you, I like where I live and I'm also starting on the garden, which, like yours, I suspect, has been pretty much a no-go area since last May!

Be lucky and keep safe

Peter

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: L CC on 24 March, 2020, 03:17:27 pm
I promoted one of my team and as of last Monday haven't been able to train him on any of his new responsibilities. I guess at least he's on the higher grade wage.
He's now volunteered to be one of the 3 people who man the office for the duration.
I'm sure this is nothing to do with his 2 bed house with Wor Lass and the Bairns. And the dog. In a terrace. In Stanley.

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 24 March, 2020, 03:24:08 pm
El Prez recounts story of chum who cycled to baker's on his road bike on pretext of buying food. Stopped by police who looked in his bag, said "it's not full enough to justify the outing" and slapped him with a 135€ ticket.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: barakta on 24 March, 2020, 04:30:39 pm
Wrangling medical appointments by email - cos phones aren't an option for this deafie.  One is being sensible, the other a bit less so. But unlike many friends, I won't die or get seriously ill without my care, just very pained and miserable.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 24 March, 2020, 05:02:11 pm
Got a dentist text this morning reminding me of the appointment I'd already tried to move to ~next next next... month~ and was certainly not going to attend. Called them. Oh we can't stop the automatic text system  :facepalm: but we've cancelled all non-emergency appointments anyway and will be rescheduling when we're told it's safe. So, partly good. Just remains to be seen what the official idea of safe is.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Diver300 on 24 March, 2020, 06:48:08 pm
I had some stuff to send by UPS. I paid the extra £2.40 to have it collected as I'm working from home and I can't drop it off on the way to work. I packed it up in an old Farnell box and left it on the doorstep.

A few hours later, it's back inside, on the table, with "Happy Birthday" and a flower drawn on it.

My wife had ordered my present from Farnell, saw the box and assumed that it was the present she had bought for me that had arrived.

I got the writing and the picture covered up and later in the day the UPS delivery man arrived and took one parcel and dropped the other one off.

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 24 March, 2020, 07:12:20 pm
I had a call from the company doing my post-accident insurance medical today, seems to be still going ahead in a fortnight.  I'll wait and see.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: MikeFromLFE on 25 March, 2020, 08:48:34 am
Due to.my ENT outpatient appointment being cancelled I felt I needed advice and reassurance from my GP as I'm taking far more OTC painkillers for earache than I feel is good for me.
I got a telephone consultation first off - quick and efficient but she wanted to look down my ear (reasonably) so booked me an appointment yesterday (three hours after the phone call).
I cycled down there (quiet roads, but stupid drivers) and went into the surgery where the waiting room chairs were spaced out splendidly.
Once I was quizzed and my ears examined I was given (another) dose lot of amoxicillin and a very tentative suggestion that I might have mastoidosis, but the GP is going to talk to the ENT bods before I go back in a couple of weeks.
The pharmacy was busy with people collecting prescriptions, and yay! they had paracetamol - that plus ibuprofen is the only way I'm getting to sleep, so it's now on my essentials list.

The existential question remains, was my ride to the GP and pharmacy my single exercise of the day, or a healthcare journey, and could I have gone out again? Modern life eh!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: zigzag on 25 March, 2020, 12:10:25 pm
having spent 14 days in a (voluntary) lock-down/social distancing, it's pretty safe to say i've dodged the virus so far, considering incubation period of 5-14 days.

i'll continue living that way until the situation improves, started getting used to it.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: pdm on 25 March, 2020, 12:21:43 pm
Day 2:

Well, our Aga service man came up trumps and fitted (still clad in industrial HAZMAT!) a new burner (eye-watering cost, though  :P) and declared the 70  year old powder blue and black behemoth as good as new (or better even , given the advances in  gas burners). Need to bake some bread for the hungry hoard when its warmed up...

Went out mid morning for the allowed "exercise session" so as not to waste the summer that has suddenly appeared outside - did a short local loop ride on Lodge Moor - ~25km with ~350m climbing. absolutely gorgeous and pretty deserted. I will have to get the rest of the distance in on the trainer.

I think some lazing the garden with lunch is the next chore...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 25 March, 2020, 02:01:43 pm
We are in the process of reclaiming our back garden from the wild garlic which has taken over. The soil is pretty good and I plan to put a load of taters in, as teh easiest thing that can go into soil that hasn't been cultivate for a bit. Will be going online to buy seeds & stuff fairly shortly.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 25 March, 2020, 02:02:17 pm
... the hungry hoard ...

Maybe the hungry horde will want some of your hoard.

As long as the hungry whores aren't involved...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 25 March, 2020, 02:12:15 pm
We are in the process of reclaiming our back garden from the wild garlic which has taken over. The soil is pretty good and I plan to put a load of taters in, as teh easiest thing that can go into soil that hasn't been cultivate for a bit. Will be going online to buy seeds & stuff fairly shortly.
Dig up the wild garlic and save it! If you don't want it, I'm sure others do.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 25 March, 2020, 02:16:06 pm
... the hungry hoard ...

Maybe the hungry horde will want some of your hoard.

As long as the hungry whores aren't involved...
Hmm. Got to wonder what will happen to street or indeed indoor prostitution. Presumably a massive fall off in clients and no chance of government support schemes for them, leading to... theft, robbery? Dunno. Also street drugs; presumably reduced mobility will cut down supply. Cue desperate addicts (and probably more robbery to pay higher prices for scarcer supply). OTOH these things might be unaffected by epidemics; there's a certain amount of risk to health involved in both activities anyway.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: JenM on 25 March, 2020, 02:48:09 pm
Will be going online to buy seeds & stuff fairly shortly.

We should not be ordering ‘nice to have’ items online for the time being. It is forcing non-essential workers to have to go into work, possible travel on public transport etc etc.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 25 March, 2020, 02:55:04 pm
I'm set up in the "back bedroom" with my full office panoply of dual monitors and a laptop. Quite a nice view from the office window now.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49697355296_b9bf980e82_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iHzWio)25 March (https://flic.kr/p/2iHzWio) by Richard Fletcher (https://www.flickr.com/photos/156993878@N08/), on Flickr

And, miracle of miracles, the VPN seems not only to be working, but at a decent speed too.

Trying VERY hard not to go to any large retailers atm. The local Farm Shop is pretty good for veg, milk and bread, I can order meat online, and a small chemist in the local town will take care of shampoo and shower gels for the time being. Oh, and Majestic's website it back up and running  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: CAMRAMan on 25 March, 2020, 03:21:09 pm
My mate what works (sic) for the Environment Agency has been given £150 by them to adapt his home to home working. Home working/skiving what he's already been doing for the last umpteen years. Seeing as his missus works for them too, it;s something of a bonanza. Jealous, me?!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: pdm on 25 March, 2020, 03:24:38 pm
... the hungry hoard ...

Maybe the hungry horde will want some of your hoard.

Mmmh. Perhaps I should have said hungry bored...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 25 March, 2020, 04:24:59 pm
We are in the process of reclaiming our back garden from the wild garlic which has taken over. The soil is pretty good and I plan to put a load of taters in, as teh easiest thing that can go into soil that hasn't been cultivate for a bit. Will be going online to buy seeds & stuff fairly shortly.
Dig up the wild garlic and save it! If you don't want it, I'm sure others do.

'Ear, 'ear. A head of garlic is as good as a spud. You peel the whole thing until the individual cloves are visible, press a lump of butter onto the top and then bake it in the oven for ~20 minutes.  The garlic becomes as soft as a boiled potato, and any sharpness is gone. Tastes wonderful.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 25 March, 2020, 04:40:10 pm
Make wild garlic risotto & salad with the leaves & flowers :)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Tim Hall on 25 March, 2020, 05:06:06 pm
Make wild garlic risotto & salad with the leaves & flowers :)

You (almost) charge a lot of money for it. A king's ramson.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: SteveC on 25 March, 2020, 05:34:10 pm
At a couple of our re-enactment events last year, someone made wild garlic butter (by hand, starting with cream) which was rather scrummy.
Looked pretty with the flowers as decoration as well.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wombat on 25 March, 2020, 05:43:03 pm
Wombat, what you complain of is largely true in bulk for almost everyone who wasn't an initial shelf-raider.  I live 400 yards from a supermarket and it's the same as living 15 miles away if there is nothing on the shelves.  On the plus side, we are much more likely to catch the virus than anyone living in wild Wales.

But, like you, I like where I live and I'm also starting on the garden, which, like yours, I suspect, has been pretty much a no-go area since last May!

Be lucky and keep safe

Peter

But at least you can go back another day if they're out of stock of bogrolls or whatever.  Its a major expedition for us, with a significant cost.  I'd like to be able to charge that extra cost to those selfish hoarder twats, who are no doubt living on a much larger income than I am. T'was ever thus, selfish people either not knowing, or not caring, that their actions are making life difficult for others.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 25 March, 2020, 06:16:46 pm
The power went off a couple of hours back here in the jungles of deepest Surrey (I assume the sticky tape that holds the super new substation they upgraded last Wednesday has come off) and still isn't back (saying 9.30pm now).

Not superhelpful, as I wanted to bake some bread. My feet are also cold.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 25 March, 2020, 06:19:53 pm
Its 1pm and I'm still in my dressing-gown.

I have, however, done a full day's work.

If I went straight to work as soon as I woke up, I could probably get a day's work done before breakfast, before all the distractions start (email, slack, zoom, whatsapp etc). Unfortunately, my company insists on maintaining a superficial semblance of BAU, so we are expected to be at our desks for normal office hours (with constant email, slack, zoom, whatsapp etc to force us to keep checking in).
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 25 March, 2020, 06:42:37 pm
I'm getting loads of sleep as I now don't get my twice-a-week 7am starts (or the disturbance of my wife trying to be quiet at ludicrous-o'clock). So I'm up bright and early at 9am every morning. Shower and a coffee and I'm ready to roll some days by 9.30 am. I do an hour on the turbo-bike thing in the garage (despite all the foul sweat that pours off me, it doesn't net me as many calorie points as a 45-min swim, even though the resistance is permanently bodged on the number six setting).

I am trying to go to bed later, but even then, oh the blissful sleep. I find I'm dreaming a lot. I don't usually remember my dreams but I woke this morning with the idea that I'd tried to eat a prosciutto sandwich and somehow the prosciutto had come out and stretched around me like cling film. A predicament that only waking up solved.

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: perpetual dan on 25 March, 2020, 07:15:26 pm
I was chatting to the fishmonger earlier. He did 9 years on deep sea fishing boats, and says all this social distancing suits him just fine.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 25 March, 2020, 08:07:32 pm
Its 1pm and I'm still in my dressing-gown.

I have, however, done a full day's work.

I don't own a dressing gown. OTOH you don't want to see my nightwear, trus me  :demon:

This time of year I'm normally in my office between 0700 and 0730 in any case, and if things start going really badly I can still be there at 2100.  This year, so far, so good
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 25 March, 2020, 08:21:07 pm
Its 1pm and I'm still in my dressing-gown.

I have, however, done a full day's work.

I don't own a dressing gown. OTOH you don't want to see my nightwear, trus me  :demon:
We don't want to truss you either.  :demon:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Efrogwr on 25 March, 2020, 08:21:28 pm
EMinor has discovered gardening!
He's also started cooking for me and Mrs E; he can't go anywhere, so we can eat dinner together.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: orraloon on 25 March, 2020, 08:36:35 pm
Make wild garlic risotto & salad with the leaves & flowers :)
Wild garlic pesto.  Pure dead brulliant so it is.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 25 March, 2020, 08:46:53 pm
I added some to our cauliflower cheese this evening.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 25 March, 2020, 09:00:11 pm
I meant to go in search of wild garlic on Sunday. Don't suppose I'll get any now  :-\
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 25 March, 2020, 09:30:24 pm
I've been having a mdadm & fsck kind of day.  Because the disk fairy's sense of timing is impeccable, I managed to sneak a high-priority eBuyer order in at the first whiff of a SMART error, just before the lockdown.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Peter on 26 March, 2020, 08:49:45 am
Wombat, what you complain of is largely true in bulk for almost everyone who wasn't an initial shelf-raider.  I live 400 yards from a supermarket and it's the same as living 15 miles away if there is nothing on the shelves.  On the plus side, we are much more likely to catch the virus than anyone living in wild Wales.

But, like you, I like where I live and I'm also starting on the garden, which, like yours, I suspect, has been pretty much a no-go area since last May!

Be lucky and keep safe

Peter

But at least you can go back another day if they're out of stock of bogrolls or whatever.  Its a major expedition for us, with a significant cost.  I'd like to be able to charge that extra cost to those selfish hoarder twats, who are no doubt living on a much larger income than I am. T'was ever thus, selfish people either not knowing, or not caring, that their actions are making life difficult for others.

Yes, you are quite right on those points.  I didn't mean to belittle your plight.  Good luck
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Peter on 26 March, 2020, 08:54:26 am
Never understood people eating garlic for pleasure - or at all.  Instant social-distancing.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 26 March, 2020, 09:07:02 am
We live on the main local bus route and from my desk, I can see the buses going past. In the past few days, all the buses have been totally empty. I think I saw one person on a bus in the whole of yesterday.

It's like they're running the service just for the sake of running it. I suppose at least it is keeping bus drivers in work.

No idea what level of service they're providing, presumably not a full timetable, but I've just seen four buses going past, two in each direction, within the space of a few minutes.

I wouldn't board a bus wearing anything less than full hazchem right now.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 26 March, 2020, 09:09:44 am
Never understood people eating garlic for pleasure - or at all.  Instant social-distancing.

I heard recently about a woman who heard that garlic was good for fighting off viral infections, so she ate so much raw garlic that it stripped the lining off her throat, or something like that. Totally unverified story but it sounds plausibly like the kind of mad thing people do.

As is this brilliant madness, which is totally verified - and given that it happened in Herne Bay, not all that surprising:
https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/kent-coronavirus-herne-bay-woman-3980586
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 26 March, 2020, 09:29:22 am
There's a zorbing place up the road, I think they're missing a business trick.

I got a bus on a Sunday, but honestly I'd rather take my chances with Covid-19 than some of the people who populate the environs of Croydon (and other than one person downstairs, we had all to ourselves). I once witnessed a three-way brawl on the tram broken up and rather than admonish the three protagonists for their outbreak of sundry violence a woman complained that the should be fighting properly. Two versus one isn't fair, you see. OK, but her solution to this was that other chap should go find a friend to help him out.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: vorsprung on 26 March, 2020, 09:59:36 am
I did too much Pilates this morning and now my back is a bit oooch

On the plus side, daughter is making a Bakewell tart
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 26 March, 2020, 10:22:23 am
Bloody hell! At these prices, we've just bunged about £10000's worth in the garden waste bin!

This is the stuff:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303456666997

It's classed as an invasive species apparently, under the Wildlife & Countryside Act and it's an offence to plant it out in the wild.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 26 March, 2020, 10:51:02 am
I'm pretty sure wild garlic is native to the UK and Europe. I expect the WCA says you can't just go out and harvest it en masse from the local woods (nicking some is fine, I'm sure). Just make sure you're picking the right thing, there are two very poisonous look-a-likes that grow side-by-side with wild garlic.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 26 March, 2020, 11:07:31 am
Our re-homed pre-loved executive chair is fine for an hour or so. For me to use all day wfh, not so much.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 26 March, 2020, 11:07:57 am
That bell shaped flower is not what I believe to be wild garlic
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 26 March, 2020, 11:12:16 am
That bell shaped flower is not what I believe to be wild garlic

Indeed, it isn't.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 26 March, 2020, 11:17:01 am
I didn't look at the link, but no it isn't. Wild garlic is Allium ursinum (named because the bears eat it). While part of the same family, it's not that closely related to cultivated garlic (it's closer to a chive and you can eat the leaves and stems, makes a nice pesto).
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: SoreTween on 26 March, 2020, 11:29:02 am
I've been trying to get wild garlic to grow in our garden since we moved here 7 years ago.  Damn stuff will not take.  There's loads of it around the forest in verges so it can't be our soil at fault.  I've been a good boy and bought it all from garden centres and must have spent £50 on it without so much as a solitary cheese & wild garlic sandwich to show for it.

In other news our Who Gives a Crap order just turned up.  I'd say handy timing except we've still got 1/3 of the December batch.  Mrs Tween is online now adjusting the frequency, this is only our 2nd batch.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 26 March, 2020, 11:35:57 am
I didn't look at the link, but no it isn't. Wild garlic is Allium ursinum (named because the bears eat it). While part of the same family, it's not that closely related to cultivated garlic (it's closer to a chive and you can eat the leaves and stems, makes a nice pesto).

Amaryllis family, sez Wiki, so if you sport with Amaryllis in the shade don't let the missus sniff you.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 26 March, 2020, 12:08:14 pm
I've been trying to get wild garlic to grow in our garden since we moved here 7 years ago.  Damn stuff will not take.  There's loads of it around the forest in verges so it can't be our soil at fault.  I've been a good boy and bought it all from garden centres and must have spent £50 on it without so much as a solitary cheese & wild garlic sandwich to show for it.

In other news our Who Gives a Crap order just turned up.  I'd say handy timing except we've still got 1/3 of the December batch.  Mrs Tween is online now adjusting the frequency, this is only our 2nd batch.

Just lift a few bulbs from the wild, it’ll spread no problem! 
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 26 March, 2020, 12:24:20 pm
I didn't look at the link, but no it isn't. Wild garlic is Allium ursinum (named because the bears eat it). While part of the same family, it's not that closely related to cultivated garlic (it's closer to a chive and you can eat the leaves and stems, makes a nice pesto).

Amaryllis family, sez Wiki, so if you sport with Amaryllis in the shade don't let the missus sniff you.

There's a song about going there, by Tony Christie?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 26 March, 2020, 12:35:38 pm
Needs shade and a mildly acidic soil, other than that, it's not very choosy.

Alliums were Liliaceae, they got shifted to the Amaryllidaceae. Lilies are a bit of a mushy taxonomic family, anything that looked vaguely lily-like got shoved in there.

In the further tales of random facts that fall out of my head, alliums have some of the largest reported divergences in the size of their genomes which gives rise to the 'onion test' paradox regarding 'junk DNA' – why very similar species have massively divergent genome sizes.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 26 March, 2020, 12:48:42 pm
It doesn't need shade, and grows in pretty much anything by my experience. I had some in the veg beds, in full sun and it went bonkers. So much so that I dug it up and put it in a pot where it has gone bonkers.  I now have it in both a bed and a pot.

It's the Jerusalem Artichoke of the allium world
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 26 March, 2020, 01:46:49 pm
I've just had a cheese & invasive weed omelette. Delicious!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 26 March, 2020, 04:51:20 pm
Huh, I'd read that it preferred to grow under trees as well.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: andytheflyer on 26 March, 2020, 06:05:23 pm
He's finally flipped.....  It's even got to Big Clive......  (if you don't know BC, then this might be a bit of a shock - you have been warned).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7dzQFk81rU
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 26 March, 2020, 07:15:40 pm
Huh, I'd read that it preferred to grow under trees as well.

Normally grows in similar places as the bluebells. I suppose it just might normally get outcompeted by other plants in bright sunlight, most plants struggle in the shade of a forest floor so it might have the edge.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 26 March, 2020, 07:29:07 pm
I might have a sneaky eye out for some on tomorrow's permitted exercise.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: cycleman on 26 March, 2020, 07:38:49 pm
I have had 2 people help us out with food. organised a food package from a local  charity and the other has bought a  bag of food which must have cost £30/£40 and would not take money for it   :o .
I'm truly overwhelmed with their generosity  :D


Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Downa
Post by: Efrogwr on 26 March, 2020, 08:06:31 pm
I had my first juggling lesson this morning and later worked out a possible idea for a sculpture.


Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: fuzzy on 27 March, 2020, 12:11:45 am
Lock Down? What bloody lock down. I'm working my arse off at the moment keeping the cycling public going.....
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: sam on 27 March, 2020, 02:01:37 am
I’ve been getting updates from my sister in Ohio, one of the more proactive states. They have a nice gym in a house about three times the size of ours, with two huge dogs. They’ll be getting a lot of exercise.

My wife and I are very fortunate in that it’s nearly impossible to feel locked down where we live.

(https://i.imgur.com/KG6XPuf.jpg)

She’s got glaucoma, with a trip to Moorfields Eye Hospital scheduled in May.

(click to show/hide)

We’re having the same worries as so many about food. Ocado is impossible, and the supermarkets around here are, in one’s perhaps not-so-fevered imagination, poorly stocked plague pits. So I'm starting to lose a bit of weight (we've been making ourselves homebodies for a few weeks now), even while my hair is once again saved from the chop.

(https://i.imgur.com/4g8CtCS.jpg)
Just about to get on the road: everything old is new again

I may be missing a haircut, especially on rides as it gets warmer, but I didn’t miss the MOT for our trusty Toyota, even as I felt a bit like Howard Hughes in my prep work.

Unsurprisingly, the Velosolo Club (https://www.notanothercyclingforum.net/index.php?topic=438.0) (blog currently being updated across another road) is swelling in its ranks.

(https://i.imgur.com/x8ZJwqt.jpg)
Last call

Yesterday evening the rich folks across the valley observed the 8 o’clock applause by setting off fireworks.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: sam on 27 March, 2020, 05:12:34 am
…and just back from a walk. 3-5 (https://medium.com/@jollygoodthen_75205/3-to-5-74d3a77bd395) hits a sweet spot for me.

(https://i.imgur.com/n4TlN1A.jpg)
Me too

I’d ride, but that’s probably not such a great idea at night with the roads around here reduced to the state they’re in. (https://road.cc/content/blog/129565-potholes-my-mind)

The bunny was waiting. He wanted his daily serving of crack cocaine rabbit chow. What he sees in that stuff, beats me.

(https://i.imgur.com/nwnXww2.jpg)
5 grams? #You’reJokingRight? (https://twitter.com/noimchompsky)

But then, I like plain oats, served cold.

(https://i.imgur.com/P0njOFZ.jpg)
Did you say oats (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrOuK5snFVY)? Where have you been hiding them?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 27 March, 2020, 07:15:03 am
wild garlic in my omlette this morning

I think the veg patch is going to become higher profile this year
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 27 March, 2020, 10:45:09 am
Well, went out for the weekly shop, this time to the M&S food store in the local town. Car park 1/3 full (this is one of three town car parks. Got there at 9, just after the NHS hour. No queue to get in. Shelves pretty well stocked, only limit seemed to be on milk (2 bottles). Plenty of booze, fresh veg, meat, etc.  Chatting to a lady in the checkout queue, she'd just dropped her daughter off at the local Tesco, where they were turning people away from the queue to get in!.  Sooooo glad I decided to not go.   Then to the farm shop. No purple sprouting sadly, but everything else seemed to be available.  A successful hours outing, including a quick blast up and down the bypass to get the car thoroughly warm albeit not enough for the stop-start to kick in.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: DuncanM on 27 March, 2020, 11:46:55 am
I went to the local Waitrose yesterday around 2. Queue of around 15 people to get in the door, all massively over-estimating 2m. As you got closer to the door, there were plant pots spaced at 2m intervals, which everyone was ignoring!
Once inside, everyone was keeping well away from everyone else (except the staff, who would walk right past you!). The shelves were pretty good, though the freezer section was missing gluten free stuff. There was a limit of 3 of any item.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 27 March, 2020, 11:51:57 am
Social-distancing by plant pots: only at Waitrose!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: DuncanM on 27 March, 2020, 11:55:29 am
Social-distancing by plant pots: only at Waitrose!
They were empty and upside down. I guess they were the only things they had to hand that were cheap and heavy (and not likely to sell).
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: pcolbeck on 27 March, 2020, 11:58:51 am
Yesterdays highlight was the air ambulance landing in the field opposite out house. Guy down the road (late 70s) had fallen off his roof (two storie house)where he had been fixing a loose tile.
Small but well dispersed crowd gathered to watch, it's a tiny village of about 100 houses several miles from an A road so you cant miss the noise of a helicopter landing).
Just got back from walking the dog and friends told me that he's coming home today! Looks like all that time double digging his garden in prep for potato planting was a sound investment and he had a much softer landing than would normally be expected.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 27 March, 2020, 01:37:31 pm
wild garlic in my omlette this morning

I think the veg patch is going to become higher profile this year
We were going to go for a sneaky wild garlic expedition on our 'loop commute' (even though we both have today off) but when I got up to feed the ravenous mogs it was drizziling so I went back to bed instead.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 27 March, 2020, 02:40:43 pm
It's Dez's birthday today. He's 41.

His younger brother has suggested a WhatsApp Dinner, where the whole family eats at the same time in different places and we video each other.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 27 March, 2020, 02:49:51 pm
That allows you to eat different food at the same meal, win!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 27 March, 2020, 05:12:25 pm
My brother just send me a photo of him with the fruits of this morning's labours -  4 very nice looking trout that he had caught. I suppose that's not terribly different from working on your allotment...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 27 March, 2020, 05:53:19 pm
wild garlic in my omlette this morning

I think the veg patch is going to become higher profile this year
We were going to go for a sneaky wild garlic expedition on our 'loop commute' (even though we both have today off) but when I got up to feed the ravenous mogs it was drizziling so I went back to bed instead.

Got some on our goverment approved walk this afternoon  :thumbsup:
I found some pine nuts but they were 3 years out of date so didn't bother making pesto but chopped it all up and put it in the freezer ready for when I've got risotto rice.

If I dig up a couple of bulbs do I just need to bung it in some compost and wait until next spring?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 27 March, 2020, 06:12:11 pm
Pretty much. Pesto without the pinenuts is just pistou. Or you can bash up cashews and add those. I like to open an entire tub, use seven, and then eat the rest.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 27 March, 2020, 06:25:17 pm
I hate cashew nuts. I had some pistachio kernels but they were even more out of date.
I also noticed several packets of walnuts but I'll save them for making walnut and raisin bread sometime soon. :P
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 27 March, 2020, 07:09:43 pm
Let's take those words: I hate cashew nuts.

No one hates cashews nuts. It's the most unfeasibleness of the unfeasibles. Awesome trees too. But look out for the monkeys.

Pistachios are OK though. Pecans too. I can't rationalize walnuts.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Ian H on 27 March, 2020, 08:44:11 pm
It's rural enough here that we can be out of town into quiet countryside in 5 mins on foot or awheel. 

Gardening today though.  Any major clearing (it's got a bit overgrown) will overwhelm even our largish compost heap, and the tip shut yesterday. 

Elderly neighbours opposite occasionally sneak over and deposit a bag of home-grown veg by the side door.  I collected milk for them today, put it on the table, rang the bell, and retreated to a safe distance.  Roderick has made a 2m pointed stick to keep people at bay.

Scottish cousin tells of an old lady who carefully spat on her handkerchief in order to wipe the Tesco trolly handle.  Cousin was so amused she nearly let her trolley roll into an adjacent new BMW.

Wild walk scheduled for tomorrow.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: sam on 27 March, 2020, 08:50:16 pm
Today we went to a nearby farm shop. It came with instructions.

(https://i.imgur.com/bKdDPix.jpg)
• Take a deep breath and keep holding it

In the afternoon I finally set myself to the task of rewiring my Langster,

(https://i.imgur.com/m3cFlfO.jpg)
Fixed gear is starting to look more attractive

learning two important lessons:

1. I cannot wrap handlebars
2. I don’t want to learn how

(https://i.imgur.com/GmtNdBM.jpg)
Eeeek

Oh, and always keep a supply of electrical tape on hand. This was not the after picture I was anticipating:

(https://i.imgur.com/TEGmA4Y.jpg)
Erm, the front brake can wait

I can do most things myself, but this is a job that just never came up. In normal times I probably still would've given it a go, then handed it over to a professional (they probably use something like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDzEaqWeFGk&t=1s)) when the inevitable happened.

A Tesco delivery this evening (one of the last available when we booked it, it turns out) I wonder how much of our modest order will materialise? No, no toilet rolls on the order.

The first thing I thought when the toilet paper frenzy began was you can live without toilet paper, people. I mean, I never have, but my wife, who grew up in Sri Lanka, did without: only the fancy hotels had it. I don’t think she’d particularly want to go back – it seems you get used to the stuff – but we were more worried about soap. And feeding the rabbit... 
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 27 March, 2020, 09:21:05 pm
Could you use the rabbit instead of toilet paper?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: sam on 27 March, 2020, 09:29:00 pm
No, but we could both use the news. (Actually, he does. (https://myhouserabbit.com/2016/01/featured-product-yesterdays-news/))
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: hubner on 27 March, 2020, 09:53:02 pm

 (they probably use something like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDzEaqWeFGk&t=1s))

Using a handheld tape wrapping machine is highly unlikely. It wouldn't work.

Bar wrapping in a factory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzCB-X4_48w
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: sam on 27 March, 2020, 09:55:04 pm
Yeah, it was a joke. But thanks for the link. Now I want one of those in my garage.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 27 March, 2020, 11:06:01 pm
Let's take those words: I hate cashew nuts.

No one hates cashews nuts. It's the most unfeasibleness of the unfeasibles. Awesome trees too. But look out for the monkeys.

Pistachios are OK though. Pecans too. I can't rationalize walnuts.

I've never got why people like cashew nuts. It's like eating crunchy milk.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 28 March, 2020, 11:33:46 am
Roasted cashew nut butter to accompany cauliflower steaks (per Marcus Wareing) is a current favourite in our household.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 28 March, 2020, 12:08:20 pm
Let's take those words: I hate cashew nuts.

No one hates cashews nuts. It's the most unfeasibleness of the unfeasibles. Awesome trees too. But look out for the monkeys.

Pistachios are OK though. Pecans too. I can't rationalize walnuts.

I've never got why people like cashew nuts. It's like eating crunchy milk.

I can't stand cashews either,  I always give them away to the other inmates.

Walnuts, good for your brain innit, it's in the shape
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 28 March, 2020, 12:59:35 pm
Pecans are better.

I want some pecan pie now  :'(
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: orienteer on 28 March, 2020, 03:12:26 pm
Brazil nuts for selenium - important for metabolism and thyroid function
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 28 March, 2020, 03:35:19 pm
All nuts are full of nutty goodness. Even peanuts which aren't really nuts (perhaps we should call them nutpeas!)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: pdm on 28 March, 2020, 04:41:35 pm
Made a Chocolate Beer Cake for birthday tea for the 5 residents of our abode this afternoon. Theakstons old peculiar. The advantage being that the cake only require 2/3 of the bottle...  ;D
Stove still behaving itself.  :thumbsup:
Now out of Cocoa....
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 28 March, 2020, 04:47:18 pm
I made my stash of too-dark-to-eat chocolate (including the disgusting raw chocolate bar) that I've been hanging on to into Earl Grey & dark chocolate torte.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49708125503_8bab7c9cd8.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iJx8UB)2020-03-28_04-45-57 (https://flic.kr/p/2iJx8UB) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 28 March, 2020, 06:35:17 pm
All nuts are full of nutty goodness. Even peanuts which aren't really nuts (perhaps we should call them nutpeas!)
Cashews and pecans aren’t nuts either, iirc.

ETA: just looked it up, and apparently nor are walnuts, almonds or pistachios ‘true’ nuts.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 28 March, 2020, 10:07:10 pm
I made my stash of too-dark-to-eat chocolate (including the disgusting raw chocolate bar) that I've been hanging on to into Earl Grey & dark chocolate torte.

Wash your mouth out, there is no such thing as too dark to eat chocolate.  It only starts to get a decent flavour at 85% cocoa, when you hit 100%, now you're really talking!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 28 March, 2020, 10:15:26 pm
85% is fine. 100% is too much and raw chocolate is bogging.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 29 March, 2020, 04:03:51 pm
https://www.facebook.com/brighouseandrastrick/videos/709400739889046/
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: mattc on 29 March, 2020, 04:11:10 pm
85% is fine. 100% is too much and raw chocolate is bogging.
yeah for me there's a sort of bell curve, 70-85% is the nicest bit.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: pdm on 29 March, 2020, 07:27:48 pm
Day 6:

Pushed the boat out today with Champagne and Roast chicken dinner.
Another Birthday cake today. Walnut and dark treacle. Yum.
Thinking about a 3rd cake tomorrow to celebrate my Son's birthday tomorrow (in absentia) but it will probably be vetoed.
Lots of Birthdays in March, it seems..
A Glass of red by the fire this evening should round it off nicely before the fun starts this week:
* son in law is a teacher (which poses a risk to us) I guess social distancing and other procedures will be de rigueur.
* my SO is very hard at work. (She designs and oversees the building of hospitals)
* waiting to hear if I will be required to help out as well.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 29 March, 2020, 07:38:37 pm
85% is fine. 100% is too much and raw chocolate is bogging.
yeah for me there's a sort of bell curve, 70-85% is the nicest bit.
Yep, I'm with matt on this one.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 29 March, 2020, 07:40:18 pm
All nuts are full of nutty goodness. Even peanuts which aren't really nuts (perhaps we should call them nutpeas!)
Cashews and pecans aren’t nuts either, iirc.

ETA: just looked it up, and apparently nor are walnuts, almonds or pistachios ‘true’ nuts.
That's just nuts! But then strawberries etc aren't really berries, so it's hardly unprecedented. (And what the pineapple? And the coconut? etc)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 29 March, 2020, 07:42:31 pm
USAnia appears to be having its xkcd://567 (https://xkcd.com/567/) moment: https://twitter.com/DiegoMuerte/status/1243932747292278784
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: SteveC on 30 March, 2020, 09:33:06 am
Just back from a run. Fewer pedestrians about than last week. No runners. Two dog walkers. One person putting their bin out. One other.
No cyclists.
But more cars than I was expecting.
I now have to wait for my coffee until MrsC has done her on-line Pilates class.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 30 March, 2020, 09:44:24 am
All nuts are full of nutty goodness. Even peanuts which aren't really nuts (perhaps we should call them nutpeas!)
Cashews and pecans aren’t nuts either, iirc.

ETA: just looked it up, and apparently nor are walnuts, almonds or pistachios ‘true’ nuts.
That's just nuts! But then strawberries etc aren't really berries, so it's hardly unprecedented. (And what the pineapple? And the coconut? etc)

I think the only actual nut is a brazil nut. In Brazil, they just call them nuts. OK, lie, they call them 'chestnuts.' In Portuguese, obvs. We found a brewery in São Paulo the other year that basically brewed beer with lots of indigenous ingredients. Much level 1 Portugenlish fun was had trying to establish precisely (by making the bar staff mime fruit) what the ingredient might be and whether anyone outside of South America had heard of it. Cashew fruit are a thing (they have the nut basically at the bottom, you have to wait till the nut is ready, and then eat the 'apple').

It's a bit a conundrum that people are allergic to 'nuts' – avoiding almonds (drupes, basically apricot-ish seeds) because you are allergic to peanuts (a legume) is a bit like avoiding lemons because you're allergic to potatoes.

I like cashews anyway. I don't like macadamias though. Minging.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 30 March, 2020, 09:56:06 am
Macadamias are gorgeous! As are cashews. Walnuts are possibly my faves but I like them all. Even peanuts.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 30 March, 2020, 10:06:13 am
That's just nuts!

Thing is, the only practical use in knowing that some nuts aren't really nuts is being able to show off when you're a panellist on QI. It's really just smartarsery.

It's like that Miles Kington (attrib.) quote about tomatoes... 'Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.'
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 30 March, 2020, 10:10:13 am
Practical in day to day life, sure. Probably quite basic if you're a botanist. Though maybe also useful for allergies: "I'm allergic to X-nut which is technically a nut/drupe/legume/etc, so I probably will/won't be allergic to Y-nut which is technically a... "
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 30 March, 2020, 10:15:35 am
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-52088987#

Early entry for the Man of the Year Award from this chap on an "essential" errand.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: orienteer on 30 March, 2020, 10:35:51 am
I like all nuts except the cobnuts they pad out packets of mixed nuts with, presumably because they're cheap.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 30 March, 2020, 10:57:18 am
That's just nuts!

Thing is, the only practical use in knowing that some nuts aren't really nuts is being able to show off when you're a panellist on QI. It's really just smartarsery.

It's like that Miles Kington (attrib.) quote about tomatoes... 'Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.'

Yeah, but they don't give you botany degree unless you know this stuff (and I have a botany degree*). I can also tell you how photosystems I and II work, which frankly is even less likely to get me invited to anyone's party.

*accidentally to be honest, it had the shortest queue.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 30 March, 2020, 11:33:49 am
they don't give you botany degree unless you know this stuff

I guess that's the other practical use for the knowledge!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 30 March, 2020, 11:37:56 am
I bet ian could easily become the Mr Big of a network of hydroponic skunk cultivators.  For all we know, he already is.  It would explain the international travel and laid-back attitude.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: PeteB99 on 30 March, 2020, 11:45:16 am
These Aussies huh  :hand:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/30/astrophysicist-gets-magnets-stuck-up-nose-while-inventing-coronavirus-device (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/30/astrophysicist-gets-magnets-stuck-up-nose-while-inventing-coronavirus-device)

“My partner took me to the hospital that she works in because she wanted all her colleagues to laugh at me. The doctors thought it was quite funny, making comments like ‘This is an injury due to self-isolation and boredom.’”
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 30 March, 2020, 11:47:53 am
These Aussies huh  :hand:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/30/astrophysicist-gets-magnets-stuck-up-nose-while-inventing-coronavirus-device (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/30/astrophysicist-gets-magnets-stuck-up-nose-while-inventing-coronavirus-device)

“My partner took me to the hospital that she works in because she wanted all her colleagues to laugh at me. The doctors thought it was quite funny, making comments like ‘This is an injury due to self-isolation and boredom.’”

Reported in CoronaBonus ==>
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: mattc on 30 March, 2020, 06:15:48 pm
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-52088987#

Early entry for the Man of the Year Award from this chap on an "essential" errand.
That's class.

If we weren't in a pandemic, that story would still make it into the news, but under
"And finally ..."
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 30 March, 2020, 07:36:51 pm
Had a call from Cyclecentric today, the new Airnimal I ordered to take on holiday with me to go riding around Garda and the Dolomites this summer is ready for collection  :facepalm:

I don't think repeat laps of Forehill, Ely will be quite the same
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: MikeFromLFE on 30 March, 2020, 09:47:25 pm
One of our follies is Modern Square Dancing - four couples dancing to a caller, lots of hand contact, and guess what? It's off, and it's off all over the world. (It's really big in Germany Denmark, Sweden, Taiwan, and of course the USA - but it's declining in the UK).
This bit of astonishing weirdness rather took my breath away - it's an American caller, calling to a bunch of dancers all separated by distance and social isolation, but all dancing to his calls as if there were a full set of dancers. After ~40 years of dancing I'm not sure I'd do as well as some of those people in those circumstances!
https://www.facebook.com/mdusoecaller/videos/238059204038324/
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wobbly John on 30 March, 2020, 10:35:22 pm
I don't think repeat laps of Forehill, Ely will be quite the same

At least there shouldn't be so many cars parked there at ATM...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 31 March, 2020, 11:34:43 am
One of our follies is Modern Square Dancing - four couples dancing to a caller, lots of hand contact, and guess what? It's off, and it's off all over the world. (It's really big in Germany Denmark, Sweden, Taiwan, and of course the USA - but it's declining in the UK).
This bit of astonishing weirdness rather took my breath away - it's an American caller, calling to a bunch of dancers all separated by distance and social isolation, but all dancing to his calls as if there were a full set of dancers. After ~40 years of dancing I'm not sure I'd do as well as some of those people in those circumstances!
https://www.facebook.com/mdusoecaller/videos/238059204038324/

Does the use of advanced technology turn it into post-Modern Square Dancing?

(http://legslarry.org.uk/BikeStull/coat_48.png)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: bhoot on 31 March, 2020, 11:55:51 am
Thanks for that link Mike, have sent on to my octagenarian father who is a keen square dancer, and fairly tech savvy... I can see him trying the same thing locally!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: MikeFromLFE on 31 March, 2020, 06:22:22 pm
Thanks for that link Mike, have sent on to my octagenarian father who is a keen square dancer, and fairly tech savvy... I can see him trying the same thing locally!
Let him know that the British Association have a Facebook group - it's lightly populated, but worth following.
Unfortunately (depending on one's world view) most British Square Dancers are aged over 55 - so he's fairly typical (In our club we are among the youngsters!)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 31 March, 2020, 06:46:10 pm
My sister is a violin teacher. Her school work is all cancelled obviously (and since she was on a zero-hours contract, despite having been at the same school for ten years, she's not getting paid) but she's trying to keep her private pupils going through Zoom lessons. It's really not the ideal technology, to say the least!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Paul H on 31 March, 2020, 07:33:45 pm
My sister is a violin teacher. Her school work is all cancelled obviously (and since she was on a zero-hours contract, despite having been at the same school for ten years, she's not getting paid) but she's trying to keep her private pupils going through Zoom lessons. It's really not the ideal technology, to say the least!
She should follow that up, if she's an employee she ought to get 80% of the average, regardless of the minimum hours in the contract. 
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: graculus on 31 March, 2020, 07:37:42 pm
My sister is a violin teacher. Her school work is all cancelled obviously (and since she was on a zero-hours contract, despite having been at the same school for ten years, she's not getting paid) but she's trying to keep her private pupils going through Zoom lessons. It's really not the ideal technology, to say the least!
Being on a zero hours contract should not necessarily preclude getting paid. My contract is a zero hours one, this is the relevant part of an email that I received from work a few days ago

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello everybody
We have new government guidance this morning on how the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will work. For the first time, there is an indication that the Scheme will include zero hours contracts. We are still trying to understand the rules about claiming but it does appear that the employer can claim 80% of what you normally earn. We propose to work through this and pay all our casual staff that 80% if we possibly can. These arrangements are likely to continue at least until the end of May 2020.

In order to claim, the employer has to place the employee on 'furlough'. This means that you are still paid and still employed but you are not required to work. Once the Centre is back up and running, we would ask you to return to work by asking you to take on bookings in the normal way.

The employer has to inform the employee in writing of the furlough arrangements. Please accept this email as preliminary notification that this applies to you from the 1st April with further details to follow.

We think it will be fairest to do this by working out the average monthly pay that you have received over the last financial year and paying 80% of that each month. If you have not worked a full financial year with us, there is scope to use a calculation from your more recent pay.

Please note if you have more than one employer, you can be furloughed for each job, i.e. each job is treated separately, and the cap applies to each employer individually. However, if you pick up extra work that replaces the equivalent of what you earn from Wildside, you must inform us. It is obviously not right for Wildside to claim for you if you are earning the equivalent additionally elsewhere. Please be aware that HMRC will be able to pick up such extra earnings through their normal system and you could be liable for repayment.

There is a considerable amount of work to be done in processing all this but you should receive any pay due for the month of March by BACS today and after that we have some time to work out payments for April onwards.


[edit: cross post with Paul H]
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: hatler on 01 April, 2020, 08:33:12 am
Bolsonaro, Trump, Lukašenko, Modi, Orban, Berdymukhammedov.

Fuckers.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Moleman76 on 01 April, 2020, 08:34:08 am
, and from a bit further to the southeast, it's become "the microbe that must not be named"  (https://rsf.org/en/news/turkmenistan-bans-word-coronavirus)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 01 April, 2020, 08:43:57 am
Thank you Paul and graculus, I've passed that on to my sister.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 01 April, 2020, 08:45:24 am
Bolsonaro, Trump, Lukašenko, Modi, Orban.

Fuckers.

I will add Johnson, Cummings and Gove to that list.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: hatler on 01 April, 2020, 08:49:23 am
, and from a bit further to the southeast, it's become "the microbe that must not be named"  (https://rsf.org/en/news/turkmenistan-bans-word-coronavirus)
Post above edited. Thank you. How depressing.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Greenbank on 01 April, 2020, 08:50:05 am
Bolsonaro, Trump, Lukašenko, Modi, Orban.

Fuckers.

I will add Johnson, Cummings and Gove to that list.

You missed off Thatcher.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 01 April, 2020, 08:50:44 am
Bolsonaro, Trump, Lukašenko, Modi, Orban, Berdymukhammedov.

Fuckers.
Yes, but Modi and Orban are the odd ones out in that they don't deny it exists.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: andrewc on 01 April, 2020, 08:52:05 am
I live on the edge of Liverpool's University precinct.  A friend & her husband live in the central business district,   her report from yesterdays walk ..


"We walk 5km every day. It is incredibly beautiful down by the river. But town is like some sort of zombie fucking apocalypse
Sadly no longer full at all, and that's the problem. Only very, very, very insistent beggars who are absolutely DESPERATE, and starving pigeons sitting on the pavement waiting to be ripped apart by starving seagulls. No more chips n gravy or burgers to eat."


 :(      Liverpool has some very aggressive seagulls who in normal circumstances will hop onto a public bench next to you & try to steal your lunch.  If they are not being fed, things could go full Hitchcock.... :jurek:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 01 April, 2020, 08:52:40 am
Bolsonaro, Trump, Lukašenko, Modi, Orban, Berdymukhammedov.

Fuckers.
Yes, but Modi and Orban are the odd ones out in that they don't deny it exists.
Trump has changed his tune. Someone must have pointed to a graph that isn’t sloping upwards.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: SoreTween on 01 April, 2020, 09:24:32 am
No amount of graphs would do it with the Orange one, that's evidence & science. His tune has changed because a friend is in a coma. Someone at the older end of the scale, a bit overweight but tough none the less1. Someone like himself then. That's close enough to home to get through it seems.

1No idea if Trump is tough but he will without a doubt consider himself to be.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 01 April, 2020, 12:22:31 pm
A bumper morning of sightings out of the back window of my "office".  4 hares, 3 pheasants, and a kite in the neighbour's paddock.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: mattc on 01 April, 2020, 07:43:25 pm
(https://ipravda.sk/res/2020/03/28/thumbs/alexander-lukasenko-clanokW.png)

I am a bit closer than most of you so I sometimes hear the news from Belarus where, unfortunately, the president, Alexandr Lukašenko, pictured above, knows how to beat coronavirus: work hard, play ice hockey, take a sauna and enjoy some vodka. He said last week that there is no virus because he cannot see a virus. Football matches, shops, theatres, restaurants, churches and suchlike all carry on as if nothing is going on.

Belarus so far has 152 confirmed cases of coronavirus, 58 of which were reported on 30th March. Figures for 31st March are not yet available.
Jeezus  ::-)

First I heard that Belarus had the only pro sport in the world, and thus everyone was broadcasting it.

Then I read about the above. Astonishing.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 01 April, 2020, 08:02:46 pm
I feel awful for my wife. After a week of lock-down, she's now just standing there, staring angrily at the window.

Regardless, I'm not letting her into the house until I'm sure she's not infected.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Ham on 01 April, 2020, 09:29:32 pm
Here's a tale from the lockdown, cycling related an' all

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-Se5d8A5w-/
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 01 April, 2020, 10:43:07 pm
I feel awful for my wife. After a week of lock-down, she's now just standing there, staring angrily at the window.

Regardless, I'm not letting her into the house until I'm sure she's not infected.

Have two weeks in isolation turned you into Les Dawson or something?

(I am soooo going to nick that gag.)

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: FifeingEejit on 01 April, 2020, 10:56:22 pm
A bumper morning of sightings out of the back window of my "office".  4 hares, 3 pheasants, and a kite in the neighbour's paddock.
That beats my 2 gadgies and a jakey.
Though Lidl on the way home was, interesting...

Security arguing with a woman in completely the wrong place with a loaded trolley.

Junkie staggering around in my vicinity angrily telt by the gadgies behind to "get tae the bak o the f-ing cue" (I'm too polite...apparently)

Polis lifting some gadgie from the car park

Someone who thinks a woodworking face mask with massive holes in it is going to help and therefore not worth bothering with the 2m distancing.


I obviously usually go when they're in the post office or methadone queues.

I'd have stopped at the coop if I hadn't eaten all of the honesty box sweets and wanted multi packs to make op for it. Doubt that'll be refilled for a while.

Not liking this make your own lunch thing either.

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 02 April, 2020, 09:24:49 am
I feel awful for my wife. After a week of lock-down, she's now just standing there, staring angrily at the window.

Regardless, I'm not letting her into the house until I'm sure she's not infected.

Have two weeks in isolation turned you into Les Dawson or something?

(I am soooo going to nick that gag.)

I nicked it (well, someone told a similar joke, but they messed it up, so mine is better).

I aim to be well into the mother-in-law gags by week 3.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 02 April, 2020, 11:07:02 am
Cousin in Canada wrote that she & hubby went for a walk round the neighbourhood, then in the afternoon they "just had to get out" so they went for a drive.  IIRC they've been in lockdown for 3 whole days.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: pdm on 02 April, 2020, 11:19:35 am
Day Nine:

Spent the morning down at our local hospital trying to dodge the virus....
My No 2. daughter (31) tripped and fell down the stairs and injured her shoulder and jaw. Has a nice carpet burn on her chin. Very painful all round and not a pleasant experience. Fortunately nothing broken worth fixing so she she is home again stuffed full of pain killers and trying to get comfortable.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: phantasmagoriana on 02 April, 2020, 12:17:47 pm
My Garmin's "helpful" insights tell me I usually do more steps on a Thursday. Too bad it doesn't have special lockdown mode!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 02 April, 2020, 12:36:23 pm
I bet people all over the world are saying "oh fuck off, Garmin"
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 02 April, 2020, 12:41:41 pm
several times a day, to the strident little bastard
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: phantasmagoriana on 02 April, 2020, 01:19:26 pm
I feel I should probably revise my 10,000 steps a day target for the time being...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Greenbank on 02 April, 2020, 02:30:43 pm
I find the adaptive steps goal mode (checks manual) "Auto Goal" is better.

If you achieve the daily goal it ups it for the next day.
If you fail to meet the goal is drops it for the next day (but by less than a successful day raises it).

Mine hovers around ~9,000 as I rarely make 9,000 steps each day. One of the days that was worst for it was a day I usually did a 45 minute spin class and then an hour long swim, so I'm hardly being idle. It's getting a bit better during the lockdown as I'm limited to walking/running at the moment (cycling would mean ignoring my family and going out solo).
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 02 April, 2020, 05:39:38 pm
Today’s Guardian is a little strange. The last 2 pages are from yesterday’s paper.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Feanor on 02 April, 2020, 07:27:49 pm
Working from Home, I got bored during an interminable Teams video conference and started doodling like I did at school.
I've done 3 doodles so far, all themed on iconic images from Silly Long Bike Rides.

Sadly, I can't find my Rotring Isograph pens of old ( they are not where I thought they were, and even if they were, the ink would be solid ).
So I'm just using a random gloopy gell pen, which does not suit detail.

I don't have a scanner, so these are camera-phone pics crudely dropped to B+W (2-colour). They are JPEGs, and do not preserve the clean-ness of the lines. Zoomed in, they have fuzzy virus-like quality and they merge together into a blur which is not present in the originals. So shit scans, basically.

Kylesku Bridge, from the North Coast 600:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49727661253_5b492f3fbf_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iLggcT)
Kylesku Bridge (https://flic.kr/p/2iLggcT) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr

Corran Ferry, from the Twilight 600:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49728524302_edbb671a01_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iLkFL3)
Corran Ferry (https://flic.kr/p/2iLkFL3) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr

Barmouth Bridge, from the BCM 600:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49728524462_e617bd97ca_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iLkFNN)
Barmouth Bridge (https://flic.kr/p/2iLkFNN) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 02 April, 2020, 07:30:06 pm
They're rather good.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: PaulF on 02 April, 2020, 09:02:01 pm
They’re brilliant, no complaints about the quality
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 02 April, 2020, 09:15:44 pm
Local micropub landlord is offering to bring the beer to us. He's going to drive around with his Landrover full of beer, I guess. You send him a message, he appears outside your door bearing two or four pints of your selected tipple.

I will only be doing this to support local businesses.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: nicknack on 02 April, 2020, 09:33:34 pm
Local micropub landlord is offering to bring the beer to us. He's going to drive around with his Landrover full of beer, I guess. You send him a message, he appears outside your door bearing two or four pints of your selected tipple.

I will only be doing this to support local businesses.
There are 3 near to me that have started to do that. I'm supposed to be on a diet at the moment so I've avoided taking them up on it. My willpower may not last long though.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Tim Hall on 02 April, 2020, 09:38:55 pm
Local micropub landlord is offering to bring the beer to us. He's going to drive around with his Landrover full of beer, I guess. You send him a message, he appears outside your door bearing two or four pints of your selected tipple.

I will only be doing this to support local businesses.
There are 3 near to me that have started to do that. I'm supposed to be on a diet at the moment so I've avoided taking them up on it. My willpower may not last long though.
I'm trying to organise a piss up from brewery in the Forest of Dean, by getting them  to deliver BEER to one of my grate frends on the occassion of his 60th birthday. However this proving somewhat tricky, what with them not returning phone calls.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 02 April, 2020, 09:52:03 pm
Hmm.  We’ve been self isolating for 2 weeks, the only exceptions being my 2 shopping trips, which were both last Friday morning. We’ve now both got a cold.  ::-)  No fever, no breathlessness, no coughs, just bunged up. And neither of us has a history of hay fever, not that there’s much blossom about anyway.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 03 April, 2020, 12:32:42 am
As a chronic sufferer, I can report that the hayfever is getting going, as of last week.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: mattc on 03 April, 2020, 06:55:34 am
Working from Home, I got bored during an interminable Teams video conference and started doodling like I did at school.
I've done 3 doodles so far, all themed on iconic images from Silly Long Bike Rides.

<snip>

Barmouth Bridge, from the BCM 600:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49728524462_e617bd97ca_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iLkFNN)
Barmouth Bridge (https://flic.kr/p/2iLkFNN) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr
I'm no artist, but I think that's rather good! (I'll leave the other 2, sorry ... )
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: MikeFromLFE on 03 April, 2020, 08:18:23 am
I ordered a marquetry kit from a shop in Devon on eBay on Wednesday, arrived yesterday morning (Thursday).
It came with a handy practice kit - just as well, because it's a skill I'm going to need a lot of practice to become even a little bit good at.
It's something I've wanted to have a go at for a long time.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: SteveC on 03 April, 2020, 09:43:53 am
Very quiet on my morning run. I was bit earlier than I have been, getting out of the house at about 8.15. I saw two dog walkers and one neighbour putting some rubbish into her bin. No other runners, no cyclists.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 03 April, 2020, 10:37:24 am
Working from Home, I got bored during an interminable Teams video conference and started doodling like I did at school.
I've done 3 doodles so far, all themed on iconic images from Silly Long Bike Rides.

<snip>

Barmouth Bridge, from the BCM 600:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49728524462_e617bd97ca_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iLkFNN)
Barmouth Bridge (https://flic.kr/p/2iLkFNN) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr
I'm no artist, but I think that's rather good! (I'll leave the other 2, sorry ... )

It appears to be missing a rampaging kaiju. They always go for the landmarks.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 03 April, 2020, 10:45:57 am
I've added another item to the Lock-Down list.

Resurrect the darkroom kit*, get some chemicals and take a 35mm film to be developed and printed...

*41 years ago, last used.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Regulator on 03 April, 2020, 10:56:02 am
Mr R has agreed I can buy an exercise bike...

...but everywhere is sold out - even the high price spin bikes are out of stock (unless you pay silly Peleton money).   I think I've managed to get the one of the last Decathlon one's available - not my first choice but beggars can't be choosers.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 03 April, 2020, 11:01:54 am
Mr R has agreed I can buy an exercise bike...

...but everywhere is sold out - even the high price spin bikes are out of stock (unless you pay silly Peleton money).   I think I've managed to get the one of the last Decathlon one's available - not my first choice but beggars can't be choosers.

My wife ordered one that was £1399 (zoinks!)

Fortunately, the manufacturer decided a day later that it was out of stock.

The only other one that was a available was fortunately a more modest £350.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 03 April, 2020, 05:36:19 pm
Local micropub landlord is offering to bring the beer to us. He's going to drive around with his Landrover full of beer, I guess. You send him a message, he appears outside your door bearing two or four pints of your selected tipple.

I will only be doing this to support local businesses.
There are 3 near to me that have started to do that. I'm supposed to be on a diet at the moment so I've avoided taking them up on it. My willpower may not last long though.

Hmm, it seems we have six pints booked for 7 pm.

I've just realised that I've not left the house since last Sunday (other than to wander around the garden). I think we'll go take a walk tomorrow.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Tim Hall on 03 April, 2020, 05:41:38 pm
I've added another item to the Lock-Down list.

Resurrect the darkroom kit*, get some chemicals and take a 35mm film to be developed and printed...

*41 years ago, last used.

Ooh, that's an idea. Amongst the piles and piles of photo tqt that my Dad left me is a knock down enlarger that all fits into a small metal suitcase.  I've got some of the prints he did with it hanging round my flat.  The only time I've done wet photo developing was too many years ago at University, developing and printing electron micrographs. What could possibly go wrong?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Andrew Br on 03 April, 2020, 05:43:17 pm
Local micropub landlord is offering to bring the beer to us. He's going to drive around with his Landrover full of beer, I guess. You send him a message, he appears outside your door bearing two or four pints of your selected tipple.

I will only be doing this to support local businesses.
There are 3 near to me that have started to do that. I'm supposed to be on a diet at the moment so I've avoided taking them up on it. My willpower may not last long though.

Hmm, it seems we have six pints booked for 7 pm.

I've just realised that I've not left the house since last Sunday (other than to wander around the garden). I think we'll go take a walk tomorrow.

My bold.

Think you'll manage both ian ?

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 03 April, 2020, 05:51:43 pm
I've added another item to the Lock-Down list...

I've decided to finally get around to using this...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49730927988_2e52df6a2b.jpg)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 03 April, 2020, 06:31:51 pm
Finally, we have a working liquidiser again. I ended up buying an entire new goblet assembly, which is glass and weighs a ton, because every internet purveyor who claimed to have seals to fit a Chef A901 liquidiser was a big fat liar.
So I have 6 brand new seals for a liquidiser I don't have.

But now I haz piña colada.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 03 April, 2020, 06:44:07 pm
Local micropub landlord is offering to bring the beer to us. He's going to drive around with his Landrover full of beer, I guess. You send him a message, he appears outside your door bearing two or four pints of your selected tipple.

I will only be doing this to support local businesses.
There are 3 near to me that have started to do that. I'm supposed to be on a diet at the moment so I've avoided taking them up on it. My willpower may not last long though.

Hmm, it seems we have six pints booked for 7 pm.

I've just realised that I've not left the house since last Sunday (other than to wander around the garden). I think we'll go take a walk tomorrow.

My bold.

Think you'll manage both ian ?

I'm up for the challenge. I don't strictly need any beer, but I'd like the little pub to be there when this is all over. I'd hate to go back to spending my Saturday evenings drinking on a park bench.

It just arrived anyway. I'm tempted to drink it now, my wife is doing her Friday night exercise class via zoom, which mostly sounds like a coven of medieval witches trying to figure out modern technology, occasionally interrupted by occasional bursts of workout music. It was a lot better when they just had a caudron.

Sadly my office is on the mezzanine, so there's no door between me and the living room. Headphones, my kingdom for my headphones.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: pdm on 03 April, 2020, 06:47:50 pm
I've added another item to the Lock-Down list...

I've decided to finally get around to using this...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49730927988_2e52df6a2b.jpg)

There was a chap doing his daily exercise stint learning to ride his unicycle in the car park across the road from us this afternoon. I'm tempted...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 03 April, 2020, 07:07:51 pm
Local micropub landlord is offering to bring the beer to us. He's going to drive around with his Landrover full of beer, I guess. You send him a message, he appears outside your door bearing two or four pints of your selected tipple.

I will only be doing this to support local businesses.
There are 3 near to me that have started to do that. I'm supposed to be on a diet at the moment so I've avoided taking them up on it. My willpower may not last long though.

Hmm, it seems we have six pints booked for 7 pm.

I've just realised that I've not left the house since last Sunday (other than to wander around the garden). I think we'll go take a walk tomorrow.

My bold.

Think you'll manage both ian ?

I'm up for the challenge. I don't strictly need any beer, but I'd like the little pub to be there when this is all over. I'd hate to go back to spending my Saturday evenings drinking on a park bench.

It just arrived anyway. I'm tempted to drink it now, my wife is doing her Friday night exercise class via zoom, which mostly sounds like a coven of medieval witches trying to figure out modern technology, occasionally interrupted by occasional bursts of workout music. It was a lot better when they just had a caudron.

Sadly my office is on the mezzanine, so there's no door between me and the living room. Headphones, my kingdom for my headphones.

What is your micropub?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 03 April, 2020, 07:13:54 pm
...

What is your micropub?

It's not mine, but I'm not yet barred.

The Radius Arms (in Whyteleafe, claims to be Surrey, but it's so in Croydon), although I call it The Radish.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Feanor on 03 April, 2020, 08:35:39 pm
Right, you lot. You're getting one more, sorry!

This is the last one for the meantime.
Omes: <cheers and applause>

Again, from the BCM 600, Kings YHA.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49731996211_c47a29ca3f_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iLDtQx)
King YHA - Dolgellau (https://flic.kr/p/2iLDtQx) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 03 April, 2020, 08:54:34 pm
There is so little traffic at 7pm that, if you fart outside, the neighbours can hear it.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 03 April, 2020, 09:10:22 pm
Right, you lot. You're getting one more, sorry!

This is the last one for the meantime.
Omes: <cheers and applause>

Again, from the BCM 600, Kings YHA.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49731996211_c47a29ca3f_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iLDtQx)
King YHA - Dolgellau (https://flic.kr/p/2iLDtQx) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr

I'm crabapple at drawing, but in a very dull meeting the other day, I scribbled Jess and Finestre stacking all the recent separated heads of the meeting attendees for a good game of ten-pin bowling. I ran out of red ink halfway through.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Feanor on 03 April, 2020, 09:27:42 pm
Right, you lot. You're getting one more, sorry!

This is the last one for the meantime.
Omes: <cheers and applause>

Again, from the BCM 600, Kings YHA.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49731996211_c47a29ca3f_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iLDtQx)
King YHA - Dolgellau (https://flic.kr/p/2iLDtQx) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr

I'm crabapple at drawing, but in a very dull meeting the other day, I scribbled Jess and Finestre stacking all the recent separated heads of the meeting attendees for a good game of ten-pin bowling. I ran out of red ink halfway through.

Yes, well so am I.
The dull meetings are exactly the thing.

With your background in Smutty Tales, I'm expecting some Hot Action sketches of Jess and Finestre in the cubicles of The Underworlds.

If necessary, describe it and I'll enact it draw it.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 03 April, 2020, 09:30:38 pm
I've added another item to the Lock-Down list...

I've decided to finally get around to using this...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49730927988_2e52df6a2b.jpg)

There was a chap doing his daily exercise stint learning to ride his unicycle in the car park across the road from us this afternoon. I'm tempted...

So am i
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 04 April, 2020, 05:54:37 am
Corona beer stops production. (https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/03/business/corona-beer-production/index.html)

Does that mean we are saved? Can I come out now?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Greenbank on 04 April, 2020, 12:28:00 pm
One of the parents at school only drinks Corona, to the point of asking people hosting parties if they can get some in (and sometimes bringing a reserve stash just in case).

Funnily enough she hasn't had a problem getting hold of her favourite lager over the last few weeks.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: pdm on 04 April, 2020, 12:56:05 pm
Zwift overloaded, methinks - tried a 1 hour ride this morning and had numerous dropouts and glitches.  >:(
I think I'll try BigRingVR next...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 04 April, 2020, 12:57:23 pm
There is so little traffic at 7pm that, if you fart outside, the neighbours can hear it.

The lockdown has increased wind production here. Some monsters, so good that you wish you had recorded them and sent them to your friend.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Hot Flatus on 04 April, 2020, 01:02:53 pm
And I though they were just heavy-breathing phone calls  ::-)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 04 April, 2020, 02:00:49 pm
Zwift overloaded, methinks - tried a 1 hour ride this morning and had numerous dropouts and glitches.  >:(
I think I'll try BigRingVR next...

That could have been me downloading it..  Took about an hour.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 04 April, 2020, 03:40:13 pm
Now that we're both having a shower every day at home rather than at work I'm going to have to clean the bathroom more often  >:(
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: andrewc on 04 April, 2020, 03:45:05 pm
Just don’t shower..... handy for testing your sense of smell is still working, so you know you’ve not Got It ...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 04 April, 2020, 04:06:49 pm
Roe deer seen wandering across the Place Mazelle in the middle of Metz.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: mattc on 04 April, 2020, 05:02:25 pm
Roe deer seen wandering across the Place Mazelle in the middle of Metz.
They'd probably read about the goats in Llandudno.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 05 April, 2020, 10:37:57 am
My chavvy neighbour plays really shit music in his garden.  I think he does this to impress his new girlfriend. 

He's one of those people like Jack Spratt - he is stick-thin and always goes for very well-upholstered ladies.  It's surprising how common this is (and vice-versa), almost as if there is some sort of total couple weight to be adhered to  ;D
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jurek on 05 April, 2020, 10:45:22 am
'Tis what is known as gross weight.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 05 April, 2020, 10:49:26 am
The gendarmerie in the Haut Rhin is using MTBs to check people in the Vosges mountains. Fair enough, but the bastards have the gall to put their routes onto Facebook complete with profiles while we poor buggers have to stay at home.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 05 April, 2020, 10:52:13 am
I went out this morning.  With no cars around, I had to go through three red lights (after sitting there watching them go through the entire cycle) because they would not detect a bike.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: orienteer on 05 April, 2020, 11:50:39 am
My chavvy neighbour plays really shit music in his garden.  I think he does this to impress his new girlfriend. 

He's one of those people like Jack Spratt - he is stick-thin and always goes for very well-upholstered ladies.  It's surprising how common this is (and vice-versa), almost as if there is some sort of total couple weight to be adhered to  ;D

Two skeletons making love is not .very comfortable  :demon:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: SoreTween on 05 April, 2020, 11:56:57 am
I went out this morning.  With no cars around, I had to go through three red lights (after sitting there watching them go through the entire cycle) because they would not detect a bike.
Report them on the council site (https://www.swindon.gov.uk/info/20040/road_safety_maintenance_and_repairs/338/report_a_faulty_traffic_signal).  Many lights are supposed to detect cycles, particularly likely if they are on cycle routes.  I reported the one by the Gatwick beehive when it stopped detecting cycles but never went back.  I also reported one in Woking when I worked there and that did get fixed, within a week to my amazement.  This one (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.2971297,-0.5767945,3a,75y,315.44h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTD1Me-mrBPNvq-fuWRnP8g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) I think though it could have been this one (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.2965553,-0.5788248,3a,75y,107.69h,83.82t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sI5sToekAW30lb6iAo_aDEw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656).
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 05 April, 2020, 12:17:38 pm
My chavvy neighbour plays really shit music in his garden.  I think he does this to impress his new girlfriend. 

He's one of those people like Jack Spratt - he is stick-thin and always goes for very well-upholstered ladies.  It's surprising how common this is (and vice-versa), almost as if there is some sort of total couple weight to be adhered to  ;D

Two skeletons making love is not .very comfortable  :demon:
I'd never thought of that.  Excellent point!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 05 April, 2020, 12:49:54 pm
I went out this morning.  With no cars around, I had to go through three red lights (after sitting there watching them go through the entire cycle) because they would not detect a bike.
Report them on the council site (https://www.swindon.gov.uk/info/20040/road_safety_maintenance_and_repairs/338/report_a_faulty_traffic_signal).  Many lights are supposed to detect cycles, particularly likely if they are on cycle routes.  I reported the one by the Gatwick beehive when it stopped detecting cycles but never went back.  I also reported one in Woking when I worked there and that did get fixed, within a week to my amazement.  This one (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.2971297,-0.5767945,3a,75y,315.44h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTD1Me-mrBPNvq-fuWRnP8g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) I think though it could have been this one (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.2965553,-0.5788248,3a,75y,107.69h,83.82t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sI5sToekAW30lb6iAo_aDEw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656).
I have a feeling they're all supposed to have a timed element as well, so if one arm has not been activated for n minutes, it gets a green phase even without anything detected there. However, n might be far longer than anyone is willing to wait.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 05 April, 2020, 01:14:20 pm
The gendarmerie in the Haut Rhin is using MTBs to check people in the Vosges mountains. Fair enough, but the bastards have the gall to put their routes onto Facebook complete with profiles while we poor buggers have to stay at home.

 ;D

Are they doing Strava?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 05 April, 2020, 01:33:17 pm
The gendarmerie in the Haut Rhin is using MTBs to check people in the Vosges mountains. Fair enough, but the bastards have the gall to put their routes onto Facebook complete with profiles while we poor buggers have to stay at home.

 ;D

Are they doing Strava?

Looks like it.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 05 April, 2020, 01:39:10 pm
We live in a linear village, and out part has probably 50 houses spread over 600m, but it’s linked to the much larger neighbouring community by an unadopted lane.

The amount of foot and cycle traffic, predominantly families with young children, has increased at least 5 fold the last few days. Some are picnicking in the local fields. One or two locals are getting exercised about it, with calls to the Police threatened  :-\

On another note, today we’ve heard multiple motorcycles on the local bypass, and no sirens.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: L CC on 05 April, 2020, 01:52:45 pm
One of our neighbours is a flautist. With so little traffic we heard the whole of their practise.

That was really rather nice.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 05 April, 2020, 03:42:56 pm
One of our neighbours is a flautist. With so little traffic we heard the whole of their practise.

That was really rather nice.

When we lived in our first flat in France, we occasionally used to hear what we took for a neighbouring flautist play a wonderfully articulate peal of notes.  After a few weeks we realized that it was really the jib trolley of the tower crane working on the next block.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jurek on 05 April, 2020, 04:02:22 pm
One of our neighbours is a flautist. With so little traffic we heard the whole of their practise.

That was really rather nice.

When we lived in our first flat in France, we occasionally used to hear what we took for a neighbouring flautist play a wonderfully articulate peal of notes.  After a few weeks we realized that it was really the jib trolley of the tower crane working on the next block.
I remember doing some work round at the house of my Head of Department whilst studying for my degree.
His neighbour was a vocalist.
F*ck me - she could sing!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 05 April, 2020, 04:28:45 pm
Choose your avatar/character for lockdown
https://twitter.com/djbaskin/status/1246637822959693825?s=19
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 05 April, 2020, 05:40:11 pm
Spent some time with the unicycle this afternoon. Realised the crap knobbly tyre was making it very hard work so swapped it for a slick tyre (nicked off my son’s old bike) and suddenly it was moving a lot more freely... whoa!

I think I was much leaner and fitter last time I tried to learn to ride it, several years ago. Really feeling it in my core right now. Got as far as being able to make one half pedal turn (ie switching weight from right to left foot). Long way to go...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 05 April, 2020, 05:44:43 pm
Choose your avatar/character for lockdown
https://twitter.com/djbaskin/status/1246637822959693825?s=19
I'm the one in the vest, with the splitting maul.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Basil on 05 April, 2020, 06:31:22 pm
I normally unlock my phone with thumb print recognition.  I've always noticed that after doing the washing up, or showering, or whatever, this fails to work for a while and I have to revert to inputting the PIN. (I assume the hot water has a deforming effect on my thumb print).
Anyway, with all this hand washing, I have to use the PIN more or less all day now.  :(
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: SoreTween on 05 April, 2020, 06:54:09 pm
I have a feeling they're all supposed to have a timed element as well, so if one arm has not been activated for n minutes, it gets a green phase even without anything detected there. However, n might be far longer than anyone is willing to wait.
Both of the hump back bridges linked above sit on both ways red until something is detected.
The beehive junction I was well used to the typical wait coming out onto the main road, Evans main warehouse is a km or so further on.  I waited long, long past that because I was used to being promptly detected. Turning right coming home, where the bus is sat (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.1435725,-0.1640421,/3a,75y,201.37h,85.71t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s69HeO8-JSxSYEzhZ1Ozhuw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656), had a timed phase. I don't think it ever detected cycles but did cars & busses (I'd wait less in presence of a fume source).
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 05 April, 2020, 07:05:42 pm
I normally unlock my phone with thumb print recognition.  I've always noticed that after doing the washing up, or showering, or whatever, this fails to work for a while and I have to revert to inputting the PIN. (I assume the hot water has a deforming effect on my thumb print).
Anyway, with all this hand washing, I have to use the PIN more or less all day now.  :(

You could probably train it with your wrinkly thumb as an additional finger.  I've had some success with that for camping.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 05 April, 2020, 07:07:37 pm
Facebook is down too  ;D
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: mattc on 05 April, 2020, 07:35:01 pm
One of our neighbours is a flautist. With so little traffic we heard the whole of their practise.

That was really rather nice.
You wouldn't be saying that for a violin.

(unless they're very good, i should add! Didn't mean to upset competent fiddlers  :hand: )
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: orraloon on 05 April, 2020, 09:26:39 pm
One of our neighbours is a flautist. With so little traffic we heard the whole of their practise.

That was really rather nice.
You wouldn't be saying that for a violin.

(unless they're very good, i should add! Didn't mean to upset competent fiddlers  :hand: )
You a friend of Prince Andrew then?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 05 April, 2020, 10:02:50 pm
SO clearly heard a drugs order being placed (shouted) from a parked car to the house of ill repute over the road from her.  They wanted double the usual because of "social distancing" making deliveries difficult  ;D
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: chrisbainbridge on 05 April, 2020, 10:14:53 pm
Spent some time with the unicycle this afternoon. Realised the crap knobbly tyre was making it very hard work so swapped it for a slick tyre (nicked off my son’s old bike) and suddenly it was moving a lot more freely... whoa!

I think I was much leaner and fitter last time I tried to learn to ride it, several years ago. Really feeling it in my core right now. Got as far as being able to make one half pedal turn (ie switching weight from right to left foot). Long way to go...
Does everybody on YACF have a unicycle?  Prompted by this I spent an hour practicing. I age the advantage at this new house of a long wall bordering the pavement. My legs ☹️
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 06 April, 2020, 12:14:02 am
Does everybody on YACF have a unicycle?

Not a whole one.  Probably for the best.

(IIRC Aldi/Lidl were selling them at a very reasonable price some years ago, and half the forum bought one.)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rr on 06 April, 2020, 12:49:08 am
One of our neighbours is a flautist. With so little traffic we heard the whole of their practise.

That was really rather nice.
I did my final exams to the sound of the royal college of music orchestra practicing, they were good and rather loud.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Auntie Helen on 06 April, 2020, 08:34:42 am
It's weird being in federal Germany with all the different rules.

This weekend we were out twice for longish velomobile bike rides. This is allowed in NRW (Nordrhein Westfalen), as is walking with one other person. There were lots of people out and about walking and also quite a few cyclists, although we purposely rode in the sparsely-populated Kreis Kleve area (which has few towns) rather than in our own Kreis Viersen. I don't think we went within 2 metres of anyone the whole two rides.

In Bavaria that would not have been allowed.

The Robert Koch Institute has named the Netherlands as a High Risk Area so Germans are not allowed to go there. But we noticed several Dutch-registered cars on our ride yesterday, including some old-timer convertibles, driving around the quiet lanes near us. I wanted to say to them "you're not allowed here" but actually they are, there is no official border closure between NL and DE. But we would not have been allowed to ride into NL, although at one point we were only about 1km away.

In other areas of Germany the ice cream shops aren't allowed to open but where we are they are - which I think is a bit unnecessary personally, but Germans do like their ice creams. Fortunately for me the bakeries are still open, but of course only allowed to do take-away.

Around where I live people are being generally very good. They are out walking in small groups and you pass either side of the road to keep the distance, but most people stay home the rest of the time. In supermarkets lots of people are wearing masks (I wear my buff) and only one person is in the supermarket (no couples) and also each person has to have a trolley which helps to keep the distance. However, I undoubtedly pass close to some people as the aisles are very narrow in our two local supermarkets.

I am about to take the dog out for a walk again. I will wear my buff as mask.

I am currently on a week's holiday from work so it will be a fairly boring time at home but at least I can sit in the garden and watch the world go by.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 06 April, 2020, 08:38:49 am
Sort of a lockdown story: in Pau on Saturday a bloke let himself be locked into an Auchan supermarket, then drank champagne & whisky and watched pornographic films until the security bloke found him, paralytic, on his rounds at 2 am.  Hauled off by the police to hospital (he was that drunk), he poured hydroalcoholic gel into an ECG worth 15,000 €.  He's due before the beak this morning.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 06 April, 2020, 08:45:31 am
It's weird being in federal Germany with all the different rules.

There was a piece in the Guardian yesterday suggesting that devolution has actually been beneficial for Germany in this situation:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/05/germanys-devolved-logic-is-helping-it-win-the-coronavirus-race

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 06 April, 2020, 09:05:30 am
It's weird being in federal Germany with all the different rules.

There was a piece in the Guardian yesterday suggesting that devolution has actually been beneficial for Germany in this situation:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/05/germanys-devolved-logic-is-helping-it-win-the-coronavirus-race

It's the kind of system the UK has moved away from under neo-liberal ideology.  Local government: Margaret Thatcher's 11-year war
The British prime minister's legacy was increased centralisation and the willingness of her successors to control local democracy (https://www.theguardian.com/local-government-network/2013/apr/09/local-government-margaret-thatcher-war-politics)


Quote
Thatcher's legacy to local governments was increased centralisation and the willingness of her successors to cap, limit and control local democracy in England. This country is one of the most centralised of western democracies, which is an odd legacy for a politician who so prized individualism and freedom.

Of course this is really POBI material.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 06 April, 2020, 09:13:13 am
Does everybody on YACF have a unicycle? 
I have 7! Four of them are connected in pairs with ingenious tubular constructions, while the other three are sitting in a cupboard with no pedals...  ;D
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 06 April, 2020, 09:20:32 am
I have a pogo stick. I've no idea where it came from. It's a proper one, pneumatic gubbins and the works. It's generally fun for about 30 seconds until you meet an object with more inertia than yourself or it hit a patch of soft ground and stop. Or it stops and you don't.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 06 April, 2020, 09:42:01 am
I have a pogo stick. I've no idea where it came from. It's a proper one, pneumatic gubbins and the works. It's generally fun for about 30 seconds until you meet an object with more inertia than yourself or it hit a patch of soft ground and stop. Or it stops and you don't.

I learned to ride* a pogo stick when I was 8. Good fun but very tiring. Haven't tried one for years. Wonder if it's something you don't forget, like riding a bike...

Wish I'd learned to ride a unicycle at the same age - would probably have been much easier. I'm too much of an old dog now.



*not sure if this is the mot juste, but it will do.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 06 April, 2020, 10:45:00 am
I have a pogo stick. I've no idea where it came from. It's a proper one, pneumatic gubbins and the works. It's generally fun for about 30 seconds until you meet an object with more inertia than yourself or it hit a patch of soft ground and stop. Or it stops and you don't.

I learned to ride* a pogo stick when I was 8. Good fun but very tiring. Haven't tried one for years. Wonder if it's something you don't forget, like riding a bike...


It's pretty easy but it quickly inspires overconfidence. One moment you're bouncing around, the next you're careening towards the driveway wall. The cats sensibly, merely look on with impassive judgement.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 06 April, 2020, 10:54:33 am
Right, you lot. You're getting one more, sorry!

This is the last one for the meantime.
Omes: <cheers and applause>

Again, from the BCM 600, Kings YHA.

...

I'm crabapple at drawing, but in a very dull meeting the other day, I scribbled Jess and Finestre stacking all the recent separated heads of the meeting attendees for a good game of ten-pin bowling. I ran out of red ink halfway through.

Yes, well so am I.
The dull meetings are exactly the thing.

With your background in Smutty Tales, I'm expecting some Hot Action sketches of Jess and Finestre in the cubicles of The Underworlds.

If necessary, describe it and I'll enact it draw it.

Nah, Jess and Finestre are frenemies of a sort, so there will be none of that. Jess's last near brush with romantic entanglement ended when she pushed him in front of a train. That really was the end of that. The end of him too.

Their world does feature a couple of amorous angels though. Not to mention the dead flatmates.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Basil on 06 April, 2020, 10:56:25 am
Bah! I know what's going to happen.  We're going to get a fantastic early summer over the next couple of months.  It will then piss down from 1st July until November.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: phantasmagoriana on 06 April, 2020, 11:16:33 am
Bah! I know what's going to happen.  We're going to get a fantastic early summer over the next couple of months.  It will then piss down from 1st July until November.

Of course. It rained here seemingly non-stop for months...until the lockdown. Since then it's been dry and sunny, and the temperature has even (just) reached double digits once or twice. :'(
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 06 April, 2020, 12:34:38 pm
It's weird being in federal Germany with all the different rules.

There was a piece in the Guardian yesterday suggesting that devolution has actually been beneficial for Germany in this situation:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/05/germanys-devolved-logic-is-helping-it-win-the-coronavirus-race

There was some German professor bod - who is in charge of Niedersachsen's COVID-19 response - on the distascope the other night saying similar things, while trying not to be too rude about the BRITISH way of doing things.  I think TV's Christian Fraser will shortly be proclaiming himself leader of Burnley's government-in-exile.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 06 April, 2020, 01:44:16 pm
I got incoherently shouted at by an old fart in a car at lunchtime just because I was out running.  Many old* people are scared and irrational now.

*it's all relative; I'm considered to be pretty damn old in the office but I'm a young man in my neighbourhood
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 06 April, 2020, 01:56:21 pm
To be fair, you can look a bit scary at times

(http://www.alfiecat.co.uk/yetacf/roger-chainwhip.jpg)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 06 April, 2020, 02:42:25 pm
If I'd been carrying that, he wouldn't have given me any shit  ;)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Polar Bear on 06 April, 2020, 02:52:16 pm
I got incoherently shouted at by an old fart in a car at lunchtime just because I was out running.  Many old* people are scared and irrational now.

*it's all relative; I'm considered to be pretty damn old in the office but I'm a young man in my neighbourhood

I was confronted by a group of young uns weekend before last whilst out running.  It remained verbal but they were very intimidating.  They were harassing everybody including an elderly lady who perhaps shouldn't have been out anyway but she looked terrified.  That's when I got involved.

These morons need to be permanently socially distanced imo.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 06 April, 2020, 05:31:54 pm
Was supposed to be having my medical for my insurance claim today. I thought it was a bit surprising that it was still going ahead, but what the heck.  Turned up very early as no traffic at all on A10/A14/M11, all park and rides empty, supermarket car parks only half full. 

Arrived at the hotel on the letter only to find it deserted, closed, COVID 19 don't you know.  Eventually spoke to a hotel security bod, apparently the address was wrong, it was not the hotel, but the adjoining courtyard which held a private medical firm, only not today. I was the third person he'd directed to the right place, but with the words "there's nobody there".  The firm organising the medical had no idea what was going on, looks like the doctor just failed to show without telling anyone.  They'll send me a goodwill chequeueueueue to cover the arsing about.

So on the way back I went via CycleCentric to pick up my Airnimal, tried to find an open post office and bought some cheese
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 06 April, 2020, 05:56:34 pm
To be fair, you can look a bit scary at times

(http://www.alfiecat.co.uk/yetacf/roger-chainwhip.jpg)
Is that a box of Celebrations on top of the cupboard?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 07 April, 2020, 09:17:28 am
Summat wrong there - their feet aren't in synch.

Meanwhile, I had a nice stab of sciatica when I got up at bladder o'clock.  Turbo trainers don't do anything for your back - no body-language.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 07 April, 2020, 09:53:09 am
The two Misses Z are playing swingball in the back garden and talking crap loudly.  It's revenge for the neighbours' loud radio at 6am every day.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 07 April, 2020, 10:44:51 am
I thought there were three Misses Z. I'm sure I remember you turning up briefly at Watlington with three of them. Had you borrowed one for the occasion?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 07 April, 2020, 11:50:44 am
I thought there were three Misses Z. I'm sure I remember you turning up briefly at Watlington with three of them. Had you borrowed one for the occasion?

Time passes... at a guess, maybe one of the former Misses Z is now a Mrs Y? Or even a Mx X, if she's one of them newfangled feminismists. Or perhaps she's gone the whole non-binary hog and is now a Mr Q?

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 07 April, 2020, 12:11:00 pm
I thought there were three Misses Z. I'm sure I remember you turning up briefly at Watlington with three of them. Had you borrowed one for the occasion?

Time passes... at a guess, maybe one of the former Misses Z is now a Mrs Y? Or even a Mx X, if she's one of them newfangled feminismists. Or perhaps she's gone the whole non-binary hog and is now a Mr Q?
Or perhaps she's gone in the other direction – forwards – and fallen off the end of the alphabet, becoming a punctuation mark. Miss { or Mr ~ perhaps?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 07 April, 2020, 12:33:56 pm
Or did she get the nod in the last honours list and is now Dame @%$*!?

The possibilities are literally endless!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 07 April, 2020, 12:47:54 pm
Or did she get the nod in the last honours list and is now Dame @%$*!?

The possibilities are literally endless!
No, you're getting that one confused with Roger's regular panto role.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 07 April, 2020, 01:04:55 pm
There have only ever been two.  SO is Miss L, although she'd probably go all feminazi on you and insist on Ms L.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 08 April, 2020, 11:36:48 am
Shopping at M&S and the local farm shop is a bit pricier than the usual Tesco run, but much much easier at present. And M&S had loo roll, so I snagged a 4 pack.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 08 April, 2020, 01:25:57 pm
On today's run, I saw a very happy scratter sitting on a bench smoking a HUGE Camberwell Carrot.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: hatler on 08 April, 2020, 01:31:40 pm
"Scratter" ?  I looked that up and it says apple mulching device.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 08 April, 2020, 02:09:39 pm
Presumably a scrumpy drinker, then.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 08 April, 2020, 03:37:52 pm
Things are getting awful, now without the gardeners, I was just forced to mow the lawn (one slow worm had a lucky escape, and no dear wife, I'm not mowing around each primrose).

And on Sunday, as the cleaner is also on hiatus, I had to vacuum. I quite enjoyed this, the new vacuum cleaner has little headlights so you can pretend you're driving a little car around the house.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Feanor on 08 April, 2020, 05:36:20 pm
Our gardener showed up unexpectedly today!
He says he is permitted to work, so long as he's on his own.

He's been beavering away all on his lonesome for hours.

That's just as well, because the lawnmower was glowering at me from under a pile-o-crap in the garage.
I really wasn't looking forward to the full upper-body workout that getting the damn thing to start would entail.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 08 April, 2020, 06:09:47 pm
It took me a small age to find the battery for the lawnmower and the strimmer, then another small age to find the chargers for those batteries.

Electric lawnmowers is the bees-knees, no wires. Given it's quite old and ununsed for a while, I was a bit surprised the battery lasted for the epic session (it needed mowing about, erm, three weeks ago). I only did it because it was starting to look like my wife's hair.

I kind of wish my mouth hadn't said that though, she's getting tetchy about it. It's not like we're going out anywhere.

Our gardeners turn up mob-handed. Or at the moment, it seems, don't turn up. Not that they've told us.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ibrahim on 08 April, 2020, 07:41:55 pm
Spent three weeks eating pies and getting fatter instead of cycling, gotta get back out there and cycling instead of moping and procrastinating... know the feeling?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: pdm on 08 April, 2020, 08:54:19 pm
Woohoo! Tesco delivery this afternoon!
A friend of ours got a serendipitous delivery slot which she shared with us to allowed a top up on low running essentials...
Quite a rigmarole involving leaving bags on the driveway and sundry other measures, but it all worked out OK.
Still no bread flour or any flour at all for that matter but I still have a couple of week's supply (just).
Here's hoping..
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Regulator on 09 April, 2020, 08:03:42 am
Our new exercise bike arrives today... :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: robgul on 09 April, 2020, 08:28:48 am
Woohoo! Tesco delivery this afternoon!
A friend of ours got a serendipitous delivery slot which she shared with us to allowed a top up on low running essentials...
Quite a rigmarole involving leaving bags on the driveway and sundry other measures, but it all worked out OK.
Still no bread flour or any flour at all for that matter but I still have a couple of week's supply (just).
Here's hoping..

The whole flour thing is amazing with so many people presumably trying their hand at baking.   We've only bought the odd "speciality" loaf since about 2005, being now on our second Panasonic bread machine.   We managed to get a couple of the usual 1.5kg bags delivered the other day and my wife has now ordered a larger than normal bag sack direct from a mill.

Rob
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: phantasmagoriana on 09 April, 2020, 09:09:30 am
Spent three weeks eating pies and getting fatter instead of cycling, gotta get back out there and cycling instead of moping and procrastinating... know the feeling?

Oh yes. :-[
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 09 April, 2020, 11:04:15 am
A near miss from a tennis ball on my shopping trip.

Couple had propped their bikes together as an impromptu net (in the middle of the road) and were playing tennis when I passed.  The ball just missed my head altho' I would have been fine otherwise as I was wearing a helmet. 

 
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 09 April, 2020, 03:23:18 pm
The whole flour thing is amazing with so many people presumably trying their hand at baking.

I think I already mentioned this elsewhere, but apparently the problem with bread flour is that all the main producers are mainly geared up to supplying wholesale (that being by far the majority of their custom in normal times) so they don't have the machinery to produce enough bags in retail-friendly sizes to keep up with the increased demand. It's this rather than panic buying/stockpiling that are causing the empty shelves.

If you're happy to have a 25kg sack, you'll be fine. (Although my usual online supplier is completely out of stock of 16kg sacks.)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 09 April, 2020, 03:25:58 pm
Just had a notification that Infinite Jest is today's kindle deal of the day, on offer for 99p. Great - that should keep me going all the way through to the other side of lockdown, no matter how long it ends up lasting...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: hatler on 09 April, 2020, 03:44:29 pm
A stat I heard on the radio somewhere over the last couple of days was that only 4% of flour production in this country gets to the end user through a shop's shelving.  Clearly then we had enough flour ...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 09 April, 2020, 04:04:01 pm
Just had a notification that Infinite Jest is today's kindle deal of the day, on offer for 99p. Great - that should keep me going all the way through to the other side of lockdown, no matter how long it ends up lasting...

Better lay in a can of Lemon Pledge for reading in the garden.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: SteveC on 09 April, 2020, 04:27:36 pm
MrsC had one of those 'you are at high risk, self-isolate for 12 weeks' letters this morning, which was a bit of a shock.
More careful reading and checking other correspondence shows that this was because she used to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, so had a compromised immune system. She has been off those drugs for years and has another letter from the local hospital to say that's she's OK, but still not what you want to read.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 09 April, 2020, 05:58:51 pm
Better lay in a can of Lemon Pledge for reading in the garden.

Will I get this reference when I've read the book?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 09 April, 2020, 06:19:50 pm
MrsC had one of those 'you are at high risk, self-isolate for 12 weeks' letters this morning, which was a bit of a shock.
More careful reading and checking other correspondence shows that this was because she used to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, so had a compromised immune system. She has been off those drugs for years and has another letter from the local hospital to say that's she's OK, but still not what you want to read.

I had my letter this morning.

I found myself in a "Catch-22" in that my letter told me to stay at home for 12 weeks and only to open a window if I was feeling lucky, punk, but also that, because I'm being prescribed methotrexate, I need a blood test. My last test was on 27th December and I am supposed to have one every 3 months. So it's overdue.

I phoned the rheumatology department and, unusually, had my call answered without the need to leave a message. The woman I spoke to looked me up on the computer and said "You're relatively low risk because you are only on one immunosuppressant." I then told her that I had unilaterally decided 5 weeks ago that I would stop taking methotrexate as it seemed to me that having a fully functioning immune system might come in handy in the face of this nasty virus, and I hadn't had any arthritic pain to speak of for several years. I did mention that we are shielding my son, who is definitely high-risk, being a kidney transplant patient, and as an obese old git with hight blood pressure, I've been taking a nice quiet 10-mile rural bike ride every couple of days. She said carry on with the bike rides, so I've been out for one. Lovely out there!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 09 April, 2020, 06:28:52 pm
Better lay in a can of Lemon Pledge for reading in the garden.

Will I get this reference when I've read the book?

Yes. It doesn't work though.

Or so I'm told. I only read the books with the small words to avoid inadvertent learnin'
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: SoreTween on 09 April, 2020, 09:02:22 pm
Spent three weeks eating pies and getting fatter instead of cycling, gotta get back out there and cycling instead of moping and procrastinating... know the feeling?
Very much so.
Garden is looking fantastic, which is going to be of zero help when I'm on my knees 50 into the 200 I very much want to do this year. No particular 200, it's just the distance I want to be back up to before winter.  So why the hell am I unable to motivate myself to take advantage of all the time off I have and the quiet roads?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Redlight on 10 April, 2020, 10:31:22 am
This is, in the literal sense, a tale from the lockdown...

A flash fiction* web site that I enjoy reading ran a little challenge last weekend for people to produce 500-word stream of consciousness pieces in response to Corona. I was delighted when mine was chosen for publication. If you fancy a 2 minute read, here it is (along with 9 other stories).

https://cabinetofheed.com/2020/04/08/stream-of-consciousness-drawer-two/ (https://cabinetofheed.com/2020/04/08/stream-of-consciousness-drawer-two/)

*stories of 1,000 or fewer words
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: pdm on 10 April, 2020, 12:12:06 pm
Phone call from Crapita this morning. Had a nice conversation with the lady at the other end about what a <insert appropriate expletive here> time it was and what it was like to work for Crapita and under the HSE and GMC - a meeting of minds.
Then did some questions and answers and tried to decide how to fit proper answers into tickboxes and still produce a meaningful result!
Asked to see passport (British passport) and then asked to prove right to work in the UK. Eeeerm, just shown you a valid UK passport with no restrictions....?
Asked to sign and email a letter to state that I was honest - discussed how on earth a self declaration of honesty could possibly hold water.
I wonder if I will be dragged off as cannon fodder...
At least they won't dock my pension if  do go back to work.]
There is, however, a thinly veiled threat in the letter from the GMC that despite any extenuating circumstances, they will prosecute if they think you aren't perfect.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: barakta on 10 April, 2020, 03:20:39 pm
This is, in the literal sense, a tale from the lockdown...

A flash fiction* web site that I enjoy reading ran a little challenge last weekend for people to produce 500-word stream of consciousness pieces in response to Corona. I was delighted when mine was chosen for publication. If you fancy a 2 minute read, here it is (along with 9 other stories).

https://cabinetofheed.com/2020/04/08/stream-of-consciousness-drawer-two/ (https://cabinetofheed.com/2020/04/08/stream-of-consciousness-drawer-two/)

*stories of 1,000 or fewer words

Very good! My stepdad has been growing a beard, I commented on this on his FB last night. He won't see the funny side if I send this to him, but I may send it to my mum *grin*.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Efrogwr on 10 April, 2020, 03:29:29 pm
E Minor is a member of a circus group that, among other things, gives organised lessons for kids. As they are unable to work live, they made a video for Bangor University's arts centre.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: phantasmagoriana on 10 April, 2020, 05:09:39 pm
So why the hell am I unable to motivate myself to take advantage of all the time off I have and the quiet roads?

This. On the plus side, I'm finally getting round to doing some bits of painting that have needed doing for ages... :-\
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Feanor on 10 April, 2020, 09:39:46 pm
I know I'd said I'd stop.
And I can, any time.

But here's another sketch. It's more than a doodle, I spent some time over this one.
It's not 'original', it's based on a small existing picture from the book. The original picture is about 2" square. My pen-and-ink is much bigger, about 6" square, taking up most of a sheet of A4.

Mijbil - the first of the otters to come to Camusfeàrna.
'Into this bright watery landscape Mij moved and took possession.'

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49757441508_22f21ebfea_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iNTTQy)
Mijbil (https://flic.kr/p/2iNTTQy) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Basil on 10 April, 2020, 10:19:21 pm
Just went to shoot the bolt on the front door.
Ah. It's still locked from last night.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 11 April, 2020, 12:25:46 am
I know I'd said I'd stop.
And I can, any time.

But here's another sketch. It's more than a doodle, I spent some time over this one.
It's not 'original', it's based on a small existing picture from the book. The original picture is about 2" square. My pen-and-ink is much bigger, about 6" square, taking up most of a sheet of A4.

Mijbil - the first of the otters to come to Camusfeàrna.
'Into this bright watery landscape Mij moved and took possession.'

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49757441508_22f21ebfea_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iNTTQy)
Mijbil (https://flic.kr/p/2iNTTQy) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr
:thumbsup:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 11 April, 2020, 08:16:26 am
I know I'd said I'd stop.
And I can, any time.

But here's another sketch. It's more than a doodle, I spent some time over this one.
It's not 'original', it's based on a small existing picture from the book. The original picture is about 2" square. My pen-and-ink is much bigger, about 6" square, taking up most of a sheet of A4.

Mijbil - the first of the otters to come to Camusfeàrna.
'Into this bright watery landscape Mij moved and took possession.'

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49757441508_22f21ebfea_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iNTTQy)
Mijbil (https://flic.kr/p/2iNTTQy) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr

 :thumbsup:  I've only done one decent portrait sketch in my life and that was of the Inlaw Maw's psychopathic Boston. Everyone relaxed when he got his wee injection.

---o0o---

Meanwhile, the lockdown here is making life difficult for drug smugglers, and street prices are reportedly rocketing.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 11 April, 2020, 09:14:41 am
Nice otter :)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Hot Flatus on 11 April, 2020, 10:27:45 am
A nice beaver next, please Ron
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Feanor on 11 April, 2020, 08:23:05 pm
A nice beaver next, please Ron

You win the mystery prize! I've been waiting for that :-)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 11 April, 2020, 08:31:29 pm
And then a pair of great tits.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 11 April, 2020, 08:37:40 pm
And then a pair of great tits.

(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/af228327f54d872b0a0d7db022316e66840073ff/0_97_3192_1916/master/3192.jpg?width=445&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=fa3f2616828f21cecb2c30976db20797)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Pingu on 11 April, 2020, 09:43:23 pm
A blast from the past.

(https://i.imgur.com/60nAHCJ.jpg)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: PaulF on 12 April, 2020, 01:35:36 pm
I know I'd said I'd stop.
And I can, any time.

But here's another sketch. It's more than a doodle, I spent some time over this one.
It's not 'original', it's based on a small existing picture from the book. The original picture is about 2" square. My pen-and-ink is much bigger, about 6" square, taking up most of a sheet of A4.

Mijbil - the first of the otters to come to Camusfeàrna.
'Into this bright watery landscape Mij moved and took possession.'

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49757441508_22f21ebfea_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iNTTQy)
Mijbil (https://flic.kr/p/2iNTTQy) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr

Great picture. But otters are just wet cats. True fact.


https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/environment/otters-just-wet-cats-2014100791441 (https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/environment/otters-just-wet-cats-2014100791441)


;D
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Polar Bear on 12 April, 2020, 02:38:48 pm
And then a pair of great tits.

(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/af228327f54d872b0a0d7db022316e66840073ff/0_97_3192_1916/master/3192.jpg?width=445&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=fa3f2616828f21cecb2c30976db20797)

Surely they are in fact blue tits?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: mattc on 12 April, 2020, 03:46:58 pm
This is, in the literal sense, a tale from the lockdown...

A flash fiction* web site that I enjoy reading ran a little challenge last weekend for people to produce 500-word stream of consciousness pieces in response to Corona. I was delighted when mine was chosen for publication. If you fancy a 2 minute read, here it is (along with 9 other stories).

https://cabinetofheed.com/2020/04/08/stream-of-consciousness-drawer-two/ (https://cabinetofheed.com/2020/04/08/stream-of-consciousness-drawer-two/)

*stories of 1,000 or fewer words

Very good! My stepdad has been growing a beard, I commented on this on his FB last night. He won't see the funny side if I send this to him, but I may send it to my mum *grin*.
I don't think Rob likes Frank very much.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Edd on 12 April, 2020, 04:43:14 pm
But here's another sketch. It's more than a doodle, I spent some time over this one.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49757441508_22f21ebfea_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iNTTQy)
Mijbil (https://flic.kr/p/2iNTTQy) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr
Great picture. But otters are just wet cats. True fact.
https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/environment/otters-just-wet-cats-2014100791441 (https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/environment/otters-just-wet-cats-2014100791441)
;D
Seals are also dog mermaids
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 12 April, 2020, 05:16:56 pm
I think I'm going to have to shave my head.  I am hopeless at achieving a uniform result with clippers.  Mind you, the difference between fully shaven and a no.1 cut is only a week.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 12 April, 2020, 05:31:54 pm
I let my son cut my hair today. He did a pretty decent job, although he's clipped it very short round the sides and left it long on top, so I've ended up looking like generic keyboard player from 1980s Liverpool-based electropop band.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Redlight on 12 April, 2020, 05:46:54 pm

I don't think Rob likes Frank very much.

Frank has an Audi with a poorly-calibrated alarm.

Nobody likes Frank.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Tim Hall on 12 April, 2020, 07:59:42 pm
I'm, laughingly, attempting some kind of beard thing. My mood switches between "what on earth are you doing?" and "hmm, give it another week".

During a family video call thing this morning, some of the Young People expressed approval:

Niece: "Sick facial hair btw"

Me: "Annoying facial hair. I'm in two minds about it."

Niece: "Nah it’s amazing. In the wise words of Anna from the hit motion picture Frozen, Let it grow, let it grow "

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 12 April, 2020, 08:03:15 pm
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/covid-health-information-cree-raven-1.5528099?cmp=rss

A puppet raven will give CORVID-19 health information, surely?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: pcolbeck on 13 April, 2020, 07:46:26 am
OK fess up which of you was this piece of idiocy then ?

https://www.facebook.com/DeanoCarpAngler/videos/10163351087375394/

It would have to be a very long tandem for social distancing even sans booze.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Hot Flatus on 13 April, 2020, 08:00:57 am
 ;D

"Is this your friend?"

Drunk No.1: "Waaaghg I've never seen him before in my life" (riding off)

Other drunk: "It is"
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 13 April, 2020, 11:42:10 am
But here's another sketch. It's more than a doodle, I spent some time over this one.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49757441508_22f21ebfea_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iNTTQy)
Mijbil (https://flic.kr/p/2iNTTQy) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr
Great picture. But otters are just wet cats. True fact.
https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/environment/otters-just-wet-cats-2014100791441 (https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/environment/otters-just-wet-cats-2014100791441)
;D
Seals are also dog mermaids

Pish and, moreover, tosh.  They are Sea Labradors.  Great big daft fish-scoffing Sea Labradors.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 13 April, 2020, 11:51:20 am
I've been telling myself I now have the haircut of a 1970s rock star but the truth is it's more like a footballer, probably from a club about to be demoted to the Third Division at the end of the 1974/5 season.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Tim Hall on 13 April, 2020, 12:29:20 pm
Looking out of the Nerve Centre window, I suspect one of my neighbours has run out of tasks. He's sorting out Christmas lights.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Ginger Cat on 13 April, 2020, 01:22:42 pm
Re-upholstered the front seats in Big Van, including replacing the seat squabs.

I've never upholstered anything before (although I went into it having much practice with a sewing machine), so I got a cheap scrapper front seat and dismantled it (on the back patio) first to figure out how to get the old seat upholstery off. Then I removed the passenger seat upholstery and unpicked them to make the pattern. The first one I made was OK, the second one was much better- benefits of practice. (They're both OK enough to use though).

So not only do I have 2 matching front seats* (in a nice blue/green mix upholstery fabric) now but also I have finally got rid of the plasticy driving seat- previous upholstey was plasticy vinyl stuff. Not only was the base flat and uncomfortable (foam tired and compressed), but the vinyl was slidey to sit on and much sweat-inducing in warm weather.

I'd originally been going to get them done by a local person who does such things but after sending info about the seats I heard nowt back, I suspect the usual thing i.e. unless it's a VW camper (for which many parts and patterns are available) no-one wants to know. So as I can sew I decided to have a go and glad I did, very satisfying.

GC

*They didn't match since I swapped out the front 2-person bench seat for a single passenger seat
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 13 April, 2020, 01:26:00 pm
But here's another sketch. It's more than a doodle, I spent some time over this one.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49757441508_22f21ebfea_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iNTTQy)
Mijbil (https://flic.kr/p/2iNTTQy) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr
Great picture. But otters are just wet cats. True fact.
https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/environment/otters-just-wet-cats-2014100791441 (https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/environment/otters-just-wet-cats-2014100791441)
;D
Seals are also dog mermaids

Pish and, moreover, tosh.  They are Sea Labradors.  Great big daft fish-scoffing Sea Labradors.

Nah! Seals are Sea Labradors.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 13 April, 2020, 01:47:25 pm
Whatever you call them, that's a really good drawing.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 13 April, 2020, 01:49:49 pm
I had a curious lockdown conversation yesterday, the sort that could only really happen during Exceptional Times. The only conversation I've ever had in which the word proprioception has been used and the only one in which Randomly Encountered Stranger, not themselves being a cyclist and not realising me to be so afflicted, spontaneously mentioned and inquired about recumbent bicycles. All at a suitable social distance of several metres, of course.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 13 April, 2020, 02:08:40 pm
Looking out of the Nerve Centre window, I suspect one of my neighbours has run out of tasks. He's sorting out Christmas lights.

Extremely busy-busy chap across the road has removed all the uprights from his fence one by one and washed them.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 13 April, 2020, 05:04:17 pm
I cleaned the garage door for the first time since we moved in (sotto voce six years ago). I've no idea why, but it's been on my to-do list for the last four years. It would have been easier if I had a bucket. I did have a bucket, but I stood on it retrieve a security camera, and then I didn't have a bucket, I had pieces of a bucket.

It's made out of annoying material (some kind of powder-coated aluminium) that has faint sulci that seem designed to collect crud. Anyway, it was one of those tasks that surely will take five minutes and one hour later, well, it's better than it was.

I think otters are aquatic cats, as seals are aquatic dogs.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: phantasmagoriana on 13 April, 2020, 05:36:28 pm
Have spent my bank holiday painting windowsills and cutting then painting skirting board to go along the bottom of my bookcases. Discovered that attempting to mitre corners with a too-small saw and plastic mitre box is surprisingly difficult. It's done now, though, and should look fine with a bit of caulk.

Unfortunately, I don't have all the moulding bits I need to finish my project at the moment, and B&Q doesn't have them available (surely moulding is an essential purchase! ???), so it'll have to be half-finished for a while longer.

Meanwhile, I've been eyeing up the manky old carpet in partner's study and wondering whether the floorboards underneath are in a decent state...sadly he's using the room for work so I can't go in and tear things up.

I've now ordered an embroidery kit, because I'll run out of stuff to paint at some point.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: L CC on 13 April, 2020, 10:01:43 pm
I have erected the small cardboard model of Prinsengracht 263, purchased in 2016.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Ruthie on 13 April, 2020, 10:13:48 pm
I submitted my essay (only a week late 'cause it was hard to concentrate), painted the front fence, even though it's rotten, and I washed the front door.  And the step.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: fuzzy on 14 April, 2020, 11:03:08 am
I am engaged in early planning stages for a permanent fixed pier for my telescope in the back garden.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 14 April, 2020, 11:10:23 am
Neighbours have contractors in laying Astraturf.  They have a skip so I guess that makes it essential building work.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Basil on 14 April, 2020, 12:24:50 pm
Well, if you prepared to allow someone into your home, now is a great time to get plumbers, electricians, carpenters, plasterers etc to actually turn up. They're desperate for work.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: robgul on 14 April, 2020, 01:27:38 pm
Well, if you prepared to allow someone into your home, now is a great time to get plumbers, electricians, carpenters, plasterers etc to actually turn up. They're desperate for work.

Hmm, not round here they're not ... I could use a plumber for a couple of minor issues that I can't fix (although I'm pretty good at most stuff, except plastering) - there are chaps working in the open air at houses in adjacent roads but nobody seems to want to enter houses.   

Rob
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Paul H on 14 April, 2020, 02:07:42 pm
Neighbours have contractors in laying Astraturf.  They have a skip so I guess that makes it essential building work.
There never has been any requirement to only do essential work.  We don't have a lockdown, we have some half hearted restrictions where sitting in the park is frowned upon but standing all day on a production line making tat is OK, for many working people it's business as usual.
From the Gov Guidance
Going to work
You should work from home unless it is impossible for you to do so.
Sometimes this will not be possible, as not everyone can work from home. Certain jobs require people to travel to their place of work – for instance if you operate machinery, work in construction or manufacturing, or are delivering front line services.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-guidance-for-employees
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 14 April, 2020, 02:10:12 pm
Good point.^ We think it's a lockdown because that's the phrase being used and because so many of us are office workers who have simply transferred the office to home.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: slope on 14 April, 2020, 04:29:50 pm
Today I had to cycle in brilliant but cool sunshine from home in the mountains down to Penrhyndeudraeth to collect prescribed medication from the local pharmacy (12 miles away). Took the opportunity of the long way back home via Porthmadog and a bulk buy protein stock up of pumpkin and sunflower seeds + 1kg tubs of smooth and crunchy peanut butters from the funky "health food" shop.

Also popped into Bargain Booze (open as an essential provider) which is a few yards away, for the first time in years (see photo of last visit 2014?). Bought 4 x 440ml cans of San Miguel from the fridge, with disposable rubber gloved hands. Was the sole 'client' in the shop.

Upon reckoning up with the member of staff, I was asked for ID. I am 66 years old, and kitted out in my regular disguise wearing a cotton cycling cap, shades, shorts, ickle below the ankle red socklets + SPD sandals.

My incredulity seemed to take ages to register and he finally let on the reason - they were only serving locals and their NEW policy was to NOT serve visitors to the region. I was let off, without any ID cos he said he thought he recognised me! Scary!

Cheers and chin chin all!

(https://live.staticflickr.com/5073/14213441914_9bba3ca85c_h.jpg)



Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: TheLurker on 14 April, 2020, 05:13:58 pm
Quote from: slope
...from home in the mountains down to Penrhyndeudraeth... they were only serving locals..
This is a _local_ shop, for _local_ people. :)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: phantasmagoriana on 14 April, 2020, 07:08:29 pm
Well, if you prepared to allow someone into your home, now is a great time to get plumbers, electricians, carpenters, plasterers etc to actually turn up. They're desperate for work.

Hmm, not round here they're not ... I could use a plumber for a couple of minor issues that I can't fix (although I'm pretty good at most stuff, except plastering) - there are chaps working in the open air at houses in adjacent roads but nobody seems to want to enter houses.   

Rob

Nor here. I've given up on getting my ceiling plastered any time soon, and have stapled a tarpaulin to it instead. :facepalm:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Basil on 14 April, 2020, 07:40:10 pm
Obviously, traders are more desperate here. 

Or more reckless.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Gaston Lagaffe on 14 April, 2020, 08:11:28 pm
I know I'd said I'd stop.
And I can, any time.

But here's another sketch. It's more than a doodle, I spent some time over this one.
It's not 'original', it's based on a small existing picture from the book. The original picture is about 2" square. My pen-and-ink is much bigger, about 6" square, taking up most of a sheet of A4.

Mijbil - the first of the otters to come to Camusfeàrna.
'Into this bright watery landscape Mij moved and took possession.'

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49757441508_22f21ebfea_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iNTTQy)
Mijbil (https://flic.kr/p/2iNTTQy) by Ron Lowe (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62966413@N04/), on Flickr
Never made the connection, but...

Yesterday watched Ring of Brightwater.

If I'm not mistaken this very image was in his cottage on the wall

Only a 2 second glimpse towards the end of the film, but it leapt out at me. I'd say it was about A4 size 😳
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Gaston Lagaffe on 14 April, 2020, 08:42:11 pm
Too much time on my hands

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OOljDUhcyRk

It just at 1:25:50.

I prefer yours :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jurek on 14 April, 2020, 08:50:17 pm
Today I had to cycle in brilliant but cool sunshine from home in the mountains down to Penrhyndeudraeth to collect prescribed medication from the local pharmacy (12 miles away). Took the opportunity of the long way back home via Porthmadog and a bulk buy protein stock up of pumpkin and sunflower seeds + 1kg tubs of smooth and crunchy peanut butters from the funky "health food" shop.

Also popped into Bargain Booze (open as an essential provider) which is a few yards away, for the first time in years (see photo of last visit 2014?). Bought 4 x 440ml cans of San Miguel from the fridge, with disposable rubber gloved hands. Was the sole 'client' in the shop.

Upon reckoning up with the member of staff, I was asked for ID. I am 66 years old, and kitted out in my regular disguise wearing a cotton cycling cap, shades, shorts, ickle below the ankle red socklets + SPD sandals.

My incredulity seemed to take ages to register and he finally let on the reason - they were only serving locals and their NEW policy was to NOT serve visitors to the region. I was let off, without any ID cos he said he thought he recognised me! Scary!

Cheers and chin chin all!

(https://live.staticflickr.com/5073/14213441914_9bba3ca85c_h.jpg)
I know where you are - I'm familiar with the area.
Kudos for getting out as much as you have.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Feanor on 15 April, 2020, 09:15:33 am
But here's another sketch. It's more than a doodle, I spent some time over this one.
It's not 'original', it's based on a small existing picture from the book. The original picture is about 2" square. My pen-and-ink is much bigger, about 6" square, taking up most of a sheet of A4.
Never made the connection, but...

Yesterday watched Ring of Brightwater.

If I'm not mistaken this very image was in his cottage on the wall

Only a 2 second glimpse towards the end of the film, but it leapt out at me. I'd say it was about A4 size 😳

I've never watched the film, so can't say.
It's possible.
Could be the original illustration for the book was larger than the published size, and the production company got a hold of it.
Or perhaps they just did their own version of it like I did.

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: The Family Cyclist on 15 April, 2020, 09:51:35 am
ROBW is one of my favourite books but very very Rose tinted. The mental and physical struggles of Gavin are clearer in his other books. I still need to get to camusferna or Sandaig as it really is at some point

That's a really good drawing. Need to have a go myself
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Redlight on 15 April, 2020, 09:57:27 am
  I still need to get to camusferna or Sandaig as it really is at some point


I wouldn't bother. I visited on a bike tour about 20 years ago.  Apart from being very quiet, it doesn't have much going for it.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 15 April, 2020, 10:54:36 am
Shark attack: Gavin Maxwell's Harpoon at a Venture (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/19/gavin-maxwell-shark-robert-macfarlane-harpoon-venture-ring-bright-water)

He was perhaps another of the very many war-damaged individuals who found it hard to adjust to a return to civilisation. PTSD of a sort.

The basking shark is now an endangered species.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Feanor on 15 April, 2020, 11:05:55 am
As a student, I was in Edinburgh Uni Mountaineering Club.
We had a trip to Skye, and were camped at Glenbrittle.
One day, a group of us went up onto the ridge around Coire Lagan, over Sgùrr Alasdair and dropped down the back to Loch Coruisk.

On the low-level walk back around the coast to Glenbrittle, directly across the water from Soay, we came across several bits of broken old wooden barrels, with ISSF markings still clearly visible on them.  They must have lain there for many years! This would have been around 1984 or so, and the Shark Fishery venture closed in 1948.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: PeteB99 on 15 April, 2020, 11:13:13 am
About 10 years ago on a sailing trip we anchored overnight in the harbour at Soay. We strolled round what's left of his old shark processing plant.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 15 April, 2020, 04:55:39 pm
No shopping trip for me today.  My right foot has seized up.  Last night there were two activities that made it hurt like a hurty thing, viz.
both accompanied by piteous whimpering.  Bed to bathroom and back at six this morning took about 15 minutes.  It's loosened up a bit now but it's not going anywhere near a brake pedal until at least tomorrow.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 15 April, 2020, 08:45:16 pm
Dear people getting interviewed on the news at home. Please to be putting your laptop/tablet/otherdevice on a pile of books or something, I'm fed up looking up your nostrils.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Feanor on 15 April, 2020, 09:24:24 pm
Too much time on my hands

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OOljDUhcyRk

It just at 1:25:50.

I prefer yours :thumbsup:

I've just looked at it.
Yes, it's not the original.
Like the other images on the wall, they are based on sketches from the book.
I think they are re-drawings done for the film.
They don't need to stand scrutiny as background scenery in a film.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 16 April, 2020, 10:46:47 am
As a student, I was in Edinburgh Uni Mountaineering Club.
We had a trip to Skye, and were camped at Glenbrittle.
One day, a group of us went up onto the ridge around Coire Lagan, over Sgùrr Alasdair and dropped down the back to Loch Coruisk.

On the low-level walk back around the coast to Glenbrittle, directly across the water from Soay, we came across several bits of broken old wooden barrels, with ISSF markings still clearly visible on them.  They must have lain there for many years! This would have been around 1984 or so, and the Shark Fishery venture closed in 1948.

If you've read much Alistair MacLean, in When Eigh Bells Toll, the hero (Anthony Hopkins in the fillum) recruits a bunch of shark fisheman to be his heavies for the final punch up, and that's set much later than 1948
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: The Family Cyclist on 16 April, 2020, 11:50:12 am
I'd have to look into this more but IIRC Gavin was fsr from alone in the basking shark fishing/spearing and other people were more successful. I'm sure it's mentioned in another of his books. Not harpoon at a venture but later

And yes I realise there is probably bugger all there but be nice to visit somewhere tangible from one of my favourite books. On which note when all this crap is over I need to go visit Walnut cottage where Roger Deakin used to live.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Greenbank on 16 April, 2020, 12:02:46 pm
Dear people getting interviewed on the news at home. Please to be putting your laptop/tablet/otherdevice on a pile of books or something, I'm fed up looking up your nostrils.

There are some laptops that have the camera below the screen. My brother has one (you can see the top row of the keyboard easily if the screen is angled too flat). That makes it even worse.

For laptops where the camera is at the top of the screen you still get NostrilView(TM) if the person is sat too close (usually, on work calls, because they are often typing or reading emails at the same time). Most of our VC calls are family calls and so we sit back from the laptop to get all of us in and there's no view up our nostrils.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 16 April, 2020, 12:12:09 pm
they are often typing or reading emails at the same time

One of my colleagues likes to multi-task, so all online meetings have a soundtrack of her fingers clattering away on the keyboard. Infuriating.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: L CC on 16 April, 2020, 02:37:12 pm
We have taken to Zoom meetings like dicks to water. Thrice weekly global blood relative conferences to play word games, moan about shopping and plan baking we shouldn't do (because we'll only eat it).

I'm actually conversing more with my childers than I did in normal times. They're so bored even talking with your mother is a valid time killer.

Our family specialty seems to be angling the camera so everyone sees only your forehead and a great expanse of wall.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Tim Hall on 16 April, 2020, 05:04:19 pm
We have taken to Zoom meetings  like dicks to water.

Freudian slit slip or intentional? ITWSBT.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 16 April, 2020, 05:14:41 pm
they are often typing or reading emails at the same time

One of my colleagues likes to multi-task, so all online meetings have a soundtrack of her fingers clattering away on the keyboard. Infuriating.
Mute until and unless you wanna speak!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Ham on 16 April, 2020, 05:29:39 pm
We have taken to Zoom meetings  like dicks to water.

Freudian slit slip or intentional? ITWSBT.

That's fboab you're talking about. Deliberate, obv.

In the absence of a Coronabollocks thread, while  queueueueing to get into shop today, guy in front goes to put on gloves, fair enough. But then he gets his hand sanitiser out and uses it before putting gloves on.....
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 16 April, 2020, 06:15:46 pm
From a friend of ours....

https://vimeo.com/408504636
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: PeteB99 on 16 April, 2020, 06:24:38 pm
they are often typing or reading emails at the same time

One of my colleagues likes to multi-task, so all online meetings have a soundtrack of her fingers clattering away on the keyboard. Infuriating.

The only good thing about online meetings is being able to multi task
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 16 April, 2020, 06:39:39 pm
From a friend of ours....

https://vimeo.com/408504636
;D
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 16 April, 2020, 06:44:04 pm
Barakta's trying to attend a webinar about Legal Stuff.  So far it appears to be a choice between Zoom on the Linux desktop where the client doesn't support closed captions[1], or Zoom on the Windows laptop where the ergonomics are poor and the audio is mysteriously broken.  There have been a several of Bad Words, and my stress level is through the roof, let alone hers.

One of the BSL interpreters appears to be connected by not-especially-wet string.  It's hard to follow sign language when it keeps dropping frames and freezing.


ETA: Audio issue resolved.  It was Cochlear's Stupid Streamer Device™, rather than anything we can legitimately blame Microsoft for.

ETA: Uhoh, now she's got the Chromebook out...


[1] Fucksake.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 16 April, 2020, 06:50:15 pm
I reckon the survivors ought to give serious consideration to learning to type at a decent speed so we can just use IRC for the next pandemic.
Title: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 16 April, 2020, 07:05:29 pm
they are often typing or reading emails at the same time

One of my colleagues likes to multi-task, so all online meetings have a soundtrack of her fingers clattering away on the keyboard. Infuriating.

The only good thing about online meetings is being able to multi task
And being able to attend them naked from the waist down. :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 16 April, 2020, 07:18:22 pm
I delivered an entire audit that way this week*. Including one hour long call with the top of an interviewees head


*possible lie
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Tim Hall on 16 April, 2020, 09:03:07 pm
We have taken to Zoom meetings  like dicks to water.

Freudian slit slip or intentional? ITWSBT.

That's fboab you're talking about. Deliberate, obv.
She once complimented me on my fine pumping action, so I suspected as much.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 16 April, 2020, 09:22:28 pm
Barakta is now attending a Zoom disco, with the sound turned off.  Because obviously.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 17 April, 2020, 02:04:31 pm
Signs that somewhere things are returning to normal. I scored a pair of hair clippers on Amazon. Made in China.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 17 April, 2020, 04:04:45 pm
My sister is giving violin lessons through Zoom and a friend is having piano lessons via Facebook messenger. We are lucky to have these tools to enable some contact and interaction during lockdown.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: andytheflyer on 17 April, 2020, 06:24:56 pm
My music teacher (sax for me but she also teaches flute and clarinet) is a peripatetic music teacher in several schools - and I don't think she's any income from these now.  She's relying on her few private pupils (like me) but she can't afford a fibre optic connection and she's suffering from bandwidth issues making it difficult to run a lesson over Zoom.  Monday's lesson eventually had to be Wednesday as she just couldn't get any bandwidth, and even then the connection at her end was iffy.  Too many people running Netflix I suspect.  She has health issues too so is not well off, but I don't know how to help her, other than paying for an 18 month fibre optic BB contract for her.    She relies on the BB connection to keep some money coming in, but atm it's a crap connection.

Anyone any ideas?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: MikeFromLFE on 17 April, 2020, 06:59:35 pm
Sent a text to a bloke I know moderately well from my volunteering on the canals. We've not spoken since the 'lockdown' '. . Let's call him Nick.

(me) - Hi Nick how's things?
>> Not too bad. How are you doing?
(me) - We're OK, getting to the allotment once a week. The family seem to be OK too
>> I asked about you, not your miserable hangers on.
(me) - OK

Two hours later

>> Sorry Mike. I got you confused with another pal of mine. Apologies. Glad to hear everyone's fine

Blimey! Someone is struggling with isolation!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 18 April, 2020, 02:21:28 pm
Plaintive message on FB from friend: If I'd known at the beginning of March that I wouldn't be eating in a restaurant again until mid-May, I'd have had dessert.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Pingu on 18 April, 2020, 03:44:08 pm
Welcome to the salon ✂️ Our motto: "Don't worry, it'll grow back!".

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49789041937_c9b911bfe0_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iRFRxx)
IMG_5835_01 (https://flic.kr/p/2iRFRxx) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 18 April, 2020, 04:00:18 pm
:thumbsup:

The worst bit is just after starting, when you look in the mirror and think "my God, what have I done?"
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: andyoxon on 18 April, 2020, 04:57:23 pm
Making a cup of tea, looked out the window, and saw learner driver (with parent) juddering/kangarooing along...  Essential journey?  I don't think so.   ::-)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 18 April, 2020, 05:19:39 pm
(https://i.imgur.com/cIcx5lz.jpg)

Mrs. road-runner is now giving piano lessons online, through What's App, Zoom and Skype, as neither she nor her students are allowed to go to the school yet her director wants all teachers to continue teaching their students.
Mrs RR could be SO's twin.  Spooky!  I assume she doesn't have a Manchester accent, though...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Pingu on 18 April, 2020, 09:03:55 pm
Welcome to the salon ✂️ Our motto: "Don't worry, it'll grow back!".

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49789041937_c9b911bfe0_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2iRFRxx)
IMG_5835_01 (https://flic.kr/p/2iRFRxx) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr

That went better than expected. Mrs P still has the requisite number of earlobes  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 18 April, 2020, 11:13:37 pm
And we're still speaking  :D
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Pingu on 18 April, 2020, 11:31:38 pm
And we're still speaking  :D

 :-*
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: L CC on 19 April, 2020, 01:19:11 pm
Zoom pictionary  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: nicknack on 19 April, 2020, 02:28:26 pm
Super.
I hear the strains of "Knocking on Heaven's Door" emanating from next door. It was "Sweet Child of Mine" before that. I may have to put Magma on again. "Mekanïk Destruktïẁ Kommandöh" should do it.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: nicknack on 19 April, 2020, 04:15:07 pm
Couldn't you just give them some John Coltrane live or a medley of intros to Baker Street, Careless Whisper and suchlike?
That'd drive me round the bend let alone the neighbours.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: andrewc on 20 April, 2020, 11:23:47 am
The young French lady who shares the flat next door appears to be doing some sort of exercise routine on our shared balcony.  Lots of gasping & heavy breathing.  Very distracting when a chap is trying to work...  I'm on a conf call in 5 minutes,  it will be amusing if the headset mike picks it up!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ScumOfTheRoad on 20 April, 2020, 11:27:27 am
Horizontal exercise  ::-)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 20 April, 2020, 11:28:51 am
The young French lady who shares the flat next door appears to be doing some sort of exercise routine on our shared balcony.  Lots of gasping & heavy breathing.  Very distracting when a chap is trying to work...  I'm on a conf call in 5 minutes,  it will be amusing if the headset mike picks it up!
This thread is useless without pics.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 20 April, 2020, 11:43:54 am
The young French lady who shares the flat next door appears to be doing some sort of exercise routine on our shared balcony.  Lots of gasping & heavy breathing.  Very distracting when a chap is trying to work...  I'm on a conf call in 5 minutes,  it will be amusing if the headset mike picks it up!
This thread is useless without pics.

No problemo.  Here is yuge helichopper that circled over a few mins ago, very low (press pic, same vehicle).  Don't know what it's doing so far inland, first a/c we have seen for days, weeks even.  They must have seen our smoke signals but did nothing. 

(https://i2-prod.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/incoming/article3206655.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/1_HM-Coastguard-helicopter-searching-for-a-missing-swimmer-in-the-sea-at-Aberystwyth-on-Saturday-after.jpg)

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: PaulF on 20 April, 2020, 01:17:39 pm
S’obvious innit? They’d heard about the you french lady “exercising” on the balcony.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 21 April, 2020, 05:41:45 pm
Piano lessons online are great, but Isata kanneh-Mason was supposed to be playing Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto at the Albert Hall a few nights ago.

How many families could perform it in their front rooms? This is just so wonderful!

https://www.facebook.com/ShekuKMOfficial/videos/256772098813152/
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 21 April, 2020, 06:40:19 pm
Aaargghh...

Have been trying to get a builder to replace our ancient flat roof with a proper tiled job. It has taken a year so far, including planning permission.  We have had umpteen builders round and a few fantastical quotes and cowboys who want cash but earlier this year we found someone who seemed perfect and gave us decent quote.  He's been the first who actually showed much interest. 

Start end of April he said months ago.  Amazingly he just called and said he will be able to get all the timber, tiles and a scaffolder ready to start end of April. 

Now what do we do?  Have checked out the alleged guidelines and of course in England it is a grey area.  Scotland, no can do, end of.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 21 April, 2020, 08:29:49 pm
Aterix, my thoughts (without knowing the law): when the builder is working outside it should not be difficult to keep a good bit further than 2 metres from him while watching/inspecting his workmanship. If you don't know and can check whether he will break through the ceiling, then can you shut the door on that room and open the window so that he doesn't have your stale air to breathe?

Replacing a leaky roof should not be too hard for him to show that it is essential work.

Ta, yes I think we will discuss how he intends to go ahead.  He's agreed not to do any internal work that might be needed until after lockdown and it'll be easy to separate the room from us as long as it takes. 

We tried to get a 'legal' view but not sure what's 'essential' - it is a 20 year old felt roof so well overdue for replacement and could leak any time for all we know. 

 
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: fuzzy on 21 April, 2020, 08:36:15 pm
Can he do his job from home?

No. He can continue to work. Just take sensible social distancing precautions.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 22 April, 2020, 12:17:30 pm
Lots of building work is carrying on around here. No idea of the legality.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Rod Marton on 22 April, 2020, 12:25:00 pm
Roof of our local newbuild went on after lockdown. Though there hasn't been a lot of activity since: it's probably more difficult for internal work to take place while social distancing. So there shouldn't be a problem with the roof at least.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Riggers on 22 April, 2020, 12:43:35 pm
Piano lessons online are great, but Isata kanneh-Mason was supposed to be playing Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto at the Albert Hall a few nights ago.

How many families could perform it in their front rooms? This is just so wonderful!

https://www.facebook.com/ShekuKMOfficial/videos/256772098813152/

Brilliant Wowers! Thanks for that. Excellent stuff.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Paul H on 22 April, 2020, 01:08:06 pm
Now what do we do?  Have checked out the alleged guidelines and of course in England it is a grey area.  Scotland, no can do, end of.
There never has been any requirement to only do essential work, there is no grey area, it's perfectly clear.  It's between you and the builder, if they're happy to do it and if you're happy to let them.
I'm sure I've replied to you with the same point before, with a link to the legislation, am I on your ignore list :-X
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 22 April, 2020, 01:22:32 pm
Piano lessons online are great, but Isata kanneh-Mason was supposed to be playing Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto at the Albert Hall a few nights ago.

How many families could perform it in their front rooms? This is just so wonderful!

https://www.facebook.com/ShekuKMOfficial/videos/256772098813152/

 :thumbsup:  Grand. Thanks, Wow.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 22 April, 2020, 03:50:28 pm
My wife has a friend, whose son is a pilot with Ryanair. He's not been flying much recently, but today he has an out and back to Portugal. Nearly every passenger has packed a set of golf clubs.

Initially I thought WTAF, but, putting myself in the golfers place (not easy), they've a flight that hasn't been cancelled, and a hotel that hasn't been closed, and there's no FCO advice not to travel to Portugal, so if they don't go they forfeit the full cost with no chance (ok, it's Ryanair, the law seems not to apply to them anyway) of getting any money back at all.  :-\
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: DuncanM on 22 April, 2020, 04:07:56 pm
I was wondering why our hot water tank hadn't been getting hot despite all the sunshine. Turns out the iBoost thing in the airing cupboard is fubar. And out of warranty. I can buy another one, but a qualified person need to fit it (they said I could, but if I broke it there would be no come-back, and I would have to be convinced it was safe). Don't really fancy getting an electrician to march up and down the stairs and through our living room a few times so he can hang out in the airing cupboard. I guess the power will just go into the grid and we'll have to keep the boiler heating the water. :(
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 22 April, 2020, 06:17:47 pm
This afternoon I had a call with a colleague in Brazil.
It sounded like they were sharing a room with someone who was snoring really loudly.
I really wanted to ask. But I thought I'd better not.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 22 April, 2020, 07:15:01 pm
Could be air conditioning.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 22 April, 2020, 07:46:47 pm
It could be a hippo.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 22 April, 2020, 08:14:05 pm
Or maybe a llama.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 24 April, 2020, 10:18:12 am
Now what do we do?  Have checked out the alleged guidelines and of course in England it is a grey area.  Scotland, no can do, end of.
There never has been any requirement to only do essential work, there is no grey area, it's perfectly clear.  It's between you and the builder, if they're happy to do it and if you're happy to let them.
I'm sure I've replied to you with the same point before, with a link to the legislation, am I on your ignore list :-X

If you are, how will you know? WHen he replies to this?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 24 April, 2020, 03:39:43 pm
Today, for the first time in a month, I went to the Supermarket. It was 10:30am (I have a day off), and wasn’t too bad at all. One way system. Seemed to have something of everything except flour. No restrictions on quantities.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: grams on 24 April, 2020, 06:43:45 pm
Went to a small quiet co op on the way home today. All going well until while I’m at the till, the guy who was in front of me who’d previously been having long friendly chat with the clerk comes right back and asks to buy something else he’d forgotten. The design of the store means to do this he has to squeeze right past me and hover next to me while I’m packing my stuff. Fuck sake.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 24 April, 2020, 08:40:02 pm
Now what do we do?  Have checked out the alleged guidelines and of course in England it is a grey area.  Scotland, no can do, end of.
There never has been any requirement to only do essential work, there is no grey area, it's perfectly clear.  It's between you and the builder, if they're happy to do it and if you're happy to let them.
I'm sure I've replied to you with the same point before, with a link to the legislation, am I on your ignore list :-X

It's unlikely you have replied since the issue only arose a few days ago (20 April?) when the wife of the builder called me.

But please send the link, I would not ignore it, I have never put any one on an ignore list!

(Did an advanced search but could find nothing under your name using likely words)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Paul H on 24 April, 2020, 08:55:27 pm
Now what do we do?  Have checked out the alleged guidelines and of course in England it is a grey area.  Scotland, no can do, end of.
There never has been any requirement to only do essential work, there is no grey area, it's perfectly clear.  It's between you and the builder, if they're happy to do it and if you're happy to let them.
I'm sure I've replied to you with the same point before, with a link to the legislation, am I on your ignore list :-X

It's unlikely you have replied since the issue only arose a few days ago (20 April?) when the wife of the builder called me.

But please send the link, I would not ignore it, I have never put any one on an ignore list!

(Did an advanced search but could find nothing under your name using likely words)
https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=115182.msg2487261#msg2487261
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 24 April, 2020, 09:17:41 pm
Now what do we do?  Have checked out the alleged guidelines and of course in England it is a grey area.  Scotland, no can do, end of.
There never has been any requirement to only do essential work, there is no grey area, it's perfectly clear.  It's between you and the builder, if they're happy to do it and if you're happy to let them.
I'm sure I've replied to you with the same point before, with a link to the legislation, am I on your ignore list :-X

It's unlikely you have replied since the issue only arose a few days ago (20 April?) when the wife of the builder called me.

But please send the link, I would not ignore it, I have never put any one on an ignore list!

(Did an advanced search but could find nothing under your name using likely words)
https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=115182.msg2487261#msg2487261

Thanks, don't know why my search didn't turn that up.

I don't find it particularly clear anyway.  This link

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-businesses-and-premises-to-close/further-businesses-and-premises-to-close-guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-businesses-and-premises-to-close/further-businesses-and-premises-to-close-guidance)

is better:

Quote
Work carried out in people’s homes, for example by tradespeople carrying out repairs and maintenance, can continue, provided that the tradesperson is well and has no symptoms.

but is still open to interpretation.  My problem was convincing Mrs A that we were ok to give the go ahead so it needed crystal clarity.  Luckily I discovered another builder working round the corner and then another a bit further on.  For the moment she is ok with it till she reads something in the Daily Mail or wherever.

If we put the builder off I reckon we'd have to wait another year given how scarce good tradespeople are round here. 

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 25 April, 2020, 11:11:27 am
I think I may have sold a bike, without trying...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 25 April, 2020, 01:15:46 pm
My sister is a violin teacher. Obviously she's teaching by Zoom now, which is far from ideal but better than nothing. Most of her pupils are children, some of them quite small, which means she's had Zoom introductions to their teddies, fluffy dinos, dogs, cats and guinea pigs, as well as some prize comments:
"I've grown a lot since you last saw me properly, and so has Mummy!"
(peering at the screen) "Your hair's changed colour. Mummy's hair's stopped changing colour since we haven't been going out."
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 25 April, 2020, 05:10:47 pm
The number of clients spare bedrooms, dining rooms, kitchens etc I've seen...

Last week an hour long interview while the guy's family walked round behind him with armfuls of stuff, including laundry at one point.  I'm glad my office is well established
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: andyoxon on 25 April, 2020, 05:24:09 pm
Went to the supermarket on Wednesday, and on the way back saw something I've not seen before...  a queue down the pavement of around 10 people (socially distancing) to get into the LBS (Pedal power).  Good news if this is all reflecting that more people of going out on the bike for exercise - the great weather helps a lot with this too I guess.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ScumOfTheRoad on 25 April, 2020, 06:13:46 pm
I live on the Thams Path in London. Lots of people out on their bikes. I often stop, a safe distance away, and offer some route advice.
I can only hope that they continue once the lockdown is over.

I saw a party of people out today, including shall we say a woman of a certain age on an extremely cheap suspension bike.
She was clicking throught he gears when stationaty.
I gave some route advice and a smile. IMHO it is really sad that ladies and gents of that age don't get sit up and beg Dutch bikes in this country.
Simple twist grip for three gears and maybe a back pedal brake. Easy to stand over the frame when stationary.

It probably was the case that this lady had been given a BSO from the shed of her family.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Pedaldog. on 25 April, 2020, 09:31:30 pm
Open your window today, if you dare.
Open your window the World is out there.
Open your window’s together and share,
In praise and applause for all those who care.
Open your window today if you dare.
Open your window the New World’s out there.
Open your window stay safe.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: andrewc on 26 April, 2020, 10:46:18 am
I have braved the dark, Stygian depths of The Camping Cupboard, and rescued my Helinox chair.  I can now sit on my balcony in comfort.[/font]
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 26 April, 2020, 12:04:05 pm
The number of clients spare bedrooms, dining rooms, kitchens etc I've seen...

Last week an hour long interview while the guy's family walked round behind him with armfuls of stuff, including laundry at one point.  I'm glad my office is well established

I’ve got a green screen and a selection of different backgrounds. Georgian study, local street scene, the council offices, the ISS. Normal things.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: spesh on 26 April, 2020, 12:06:31 pm
The number of clients spare bedrooms, dining rooms, kitchens etc I've seen...

Last week an hour long interview while the guy's family walked round behind him with armfuls of stuff, including laundry at one point.  I'm glad my office is well established

I'll just leave this here...

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2020/04/rate-my-skype-room-twitter
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 26 April, 2020, 02:04:03 pm
I spotted That Nice Mr Paulley in a tiny Zoom window on barakta's computer without my glasses the other day because I recognised his smoke detector and whisky cabinet from Channel 4 news.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 26 April, 2020, 03:57:21 pm
Chum linked to a report in L'Équipe saying that as of 11th May professional cyclists will be allowed to train on the road again.  If they don't allow amateurs out as well there'll be wigs on the green.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 26 April, 2020, 04:38:12 pm
The number of clients spare bedrooms, dining rooms, kitchens etc I've seen...

Last week an hour long interview while the guy's family walked round behind him with armfuls of stuff, including laundry at one point.  I'm glad my office is well established

I’ve got a green screen and a selection of different backgrounds. Georgian study, local street scene, the council offices, the ISS. Normal things.

Blurred background on MS teams, I might go for "locker room" or "tropical island" next week
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: spesh on 26 April, 2020, 05:51:21 pm
I spotted That Nice Mr Paulley in a tiny Zoom window on barakta's computer without my glasses the other day because I recognised his smoke detector and whisky cabinet from Channel 4 news.

WRT Robert E. Kelly (https://twitter.com/Robert_E_Kelly), nobody's looking at the decor - they waiting for him to be Skype/Zoom-bombed by his kids.  :demon:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 26 April, 2020, 06:18:54 pm
 Britain Needs Bike Builders
  (https://road.cc/content/news/theres-need-bike-builders-could-you-help-273011?amp)
Quote
With bike sales soaring during the coronavirus lockdown, the industry has unexpectedly found itself suffering a shortage of people capable of putting bikes together. The Association of Cycle Traders (ACT) is therefore appealing for technicians free to take on bike building work to come forward. With an estimated 20,000 bicycles awaiting delivery and building for UK customers, there’s work to be done.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: matthew on 26 April, 2020, 07:44:49 pm
The number of clients spare bedrooms, dining rooms, kitchens etc I've seen...

Last week an hour long interview while the guy's family walked round behind him with armfuls of stuff, including laundry at one point.  I'm glad my office is well established

I’ve got a green screen and a selection of different backgrounds. Georgian study, local street scene, the council offices, the ISS. Normal things.

Blurred background on MS teams, I might go for "locker room" or "tropical island" next week

I'm rotating my embroideries hung on the door behind me for my meetings.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Tim Hall on 26 April, 2020, 09:13:13 pm
Is it possible to add an image from your own photo library as a background to Zoom?  My far flung family are getting fed up with my tattily decorated spare room Nerve Centre.

I also feel a plugin called "Conch Shell" would improve the whole multivocal jabbering experience.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: matthew on 26 April, 2020, 09:22:48 pm
In Zoom support search "Virtual Background" Beware they recommend having a green screen behind you so the software can work out where to put the image and what is you. perching a laptop on your knees whilst sat on the sofa works fine until the wall mounted light comes into the top of the frame.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 26 April, 2020, 09:23:31 pm
Yes, if you've got the image on the same machine. Though things can go a bit blurry around the edges.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 26 April, 2020, 09:24:39 pm
I also feel a plugin called "Conch Shell" would improve the whole multivocal jabbering experience.
Everyone to be on mute until they have something to say! "That concludes what I want to say and I'll now hand over to Eddy who's dialled in from Belgium."
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Andrew Br on 26 April, 2020, 09:26:53 pm
Is it possible to add an image from your own photo library as a background to Zoom?  My far flung family are getting fed up with my tattily decorated spare room Nerve Centre.



Yes, even I can do it.
Put the photo of choice onto your Zoom computer and then click on one of the "down" arrows when you're on the call (can't remember which one) and you can upload it.

ETA: X-post with Cuds.



Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: fuzzy on 26 April, 2020, 11:28:49 pm
Britain Needs Bike Builders
  (https://road.cc/content/news/theres-need-bike-builders-could-you-help-273011?amp)
Quote
With bike sales soaring during the coronavirus lockdown, the industry has unexpectedly found itself suffering a shortage of people capable of putting bikes together. The Association of Cycle Traders (ACT) is therefore appealing for technicians free to take on bike building work to come forward. With an estimated 20,000 bicycles awaiting delivery and building for UK customers, there’s work to be done.
If my experience is anything to go by, bike builders aren't necessarily going to be the shortage issue. So many people have been buying bikes that we are now struggling to get low to mid price range bikes at all.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 26 April, 2020, 11:59:45 pm
In Zoom support search "Virtual Background" Beware they recommend having a green screen behind you so the software can work out where to put the image and what is you. perching a laptop on your knees whilst sat on the sofa works fine until the wall mounted light comes into the top of the frame.

What you need is a half decent graphics card. And experiment with the lighting.
What you don't need is a green screen - the results are worse with a green screen.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: andrewc on 30 April, 2020, 09:21:13 pm
The announcer on Radio 3 has just used "strange times", "unusual times" & "dark times" within 5 minutes of each other.....
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 30 April, 2020, 09:25:34 pm
The announcer on Radio 3 has just used "strange times", "unusual times" & "dark times" within 5 minutes of each other.....

12:16, 9:8 and 5:7?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 30 April, 2020, 10:10:12 pm
The announcer on Radio 3 has just used "strange times", "unusual times" & "dark times" within 5 minutes of each other.....

Damn - only missing an "unprecedented times" for a full house.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 01 May, 2020, 09:49:19 am
Went out for an early morning rendezvous to score a bag of white powder this morning - my wife's friend is a baker and she sold us some flour. So sourdough pizza is back on the menu for dinner tomorrow night. Yay!

Also filled up the car while I was out, for the first time in well over a month. With petrol prices as they are right now, I kind of wish I could stockpile some for later.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 03 May, 2020, 11:36:43 am
British Airways have finally confirmed that our flights from London's famous London to Stornoway next month are cancelled, though have not yet done the same for the return leg ???  They have offered vouchers in compo, which have a time limit of a year on them.  While we fully intend to go there next year instead, there's no guarantees re when we can book Stuffs, so Miss von Brandenburg is going to grink them and demand Money with Menaces.

Now I have to cancel the car hire.  Bah.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jurek on 03 May, 2020, 11:40:34 am
British Airways have finally confirmed that our flights from London's famous London to Stornoway next month are cancelled, though have not yet done the same for the return leg ???  They have offered vouchers in compo, which have a time limit of a year on them.  While we fully intend to go there next year instead, there's no guarantees re when we can book Stuffs, so Miss von Brandenburg is going to grink them and demand Money with Menaces.

Now I have to cancel the car hire.  Bah.
You don't have to accept the vouchers.
I heard Simon Calder on the wireless the other day - The legal position is: if the airline cancels the flight, they have to reimburse you using cash, in full, within 7 days of the cancellation.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 03 May, 2020, 11:40:40 am
Miss von Brandenburg is going to grink them and demand Money with Menaces.
What if they offer Menaces without Money?  ;)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 03 May, 2020, 11:50:38 am
British Airways have finally confirmed that our flights from London's famous London to Stornoway next month are cancelled, though have not yet done the same for the return leg ???  They have offered vouchers in compo, which have a time limit of a year on them.  While we fully intend to go there next year instead, there's no guarantees re when we can book Stuffs, so Miss von Brandenburg is going to grink them and demand Money with Menaces.

Now I have to cancel the car hire.  Bah.
You don't have to accept the vouchers.
I heard Simon Calder on the wireless the other day - The legal position is: if the airline cancels the flight, they have to reimburse you using cash, in full, within 7 days of the cancellation.

Ta,  I shall pass this intel onto Miss von B as soon as I'm on the Proper Computer.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 03 May, 2020, 12:13:18 pm
Yesterday was my second diy haircut (it’s simple for me, a 3 and a 5) of the lockdown, and this time my wife was a bit mor confident trimming the neckline. I’m not as good as the barber obvs, and my cut only lasts 2 weeks before needing redoing, rather than 3, but at a rural £10 a pop plus tip, the clippers (Chinese rechargeable ones) will be paid for after 4 cuts, and the quality is good enough for my critical wife to say it looks ok. Certainly good enough for the office when I’m finally allowed back in. I can see my visits the the barbers reducing dramatically post lockdown. 
 
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jurek on 03 May, 2020, 12:19:28 pm
British Airways have finally confirmed that our flights from London's famous London to Stornoway next month are cancelled, though have not yet done the same for the return leg ???  They have offered vouchers in compo, which have a time limit of a year on them.  While we fully intend to go there next year instead, there's no guarantees re when we can book Stuffs, so Miss von Brandenburg is going to grink them and demand Money with Menaces.

Now I have to cancel the car hire.  Bah.
You don't have to accept the vouchers.
I heard Simon Calder on the wireless the other day - The legal position is: if the airline cancels the flight, they have to reimburse you using cash, in full, within 7 days of the cancellation.

Ta,  I shall pass this intel onto Miss von B as soon as I'm on the Proper Computer.

The other thing that was discussed on the radio programme, was how much the airlines were 'trying it on' when it came to issuing refunds to their customers.
With Ryanair at the helm of these miscreants.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: matthew on 03 May, 2020, 12:36:09 pm
British Airways have finally confirmed that our flights from London's famous London to Stornoway next month are cancelled, though have not yet done the same for the return leg ???  They have offered vouchers in compo, which have a time limit of a year on them.  While we fully intend to go there next year instead, there's no guarantees re when we can book Stuffs, so Miss von Brandenburg is going to grink them and demand Money with Menaces.

Now I have to cancel the car hire.  Bah.
You don't have to accept the vouchers.
I heard Simon Calder on the wireless the other day - The legal position is: if the airline cancels the flight, they have to reimburse you using cash, in full, within 7 days of the cancellation.

Ta,  I shall pass this intel onto Miss von B as soon as I'm on the Proper Computer.

The other thing that was discussed on the radio programme, was how much the airlines were 'trying it on' when it came to issuing refunds to their customers.
With Ryanair at the helm of these miscreants.

I suspect it is a major cash flow management issue. Vouchers mean we still have your money but a refund may mean we have no funds to pay staff and collapse.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: robgul on 03 May, 2020, 12:59:27 pm
Yesterday was my second diy haircut (it’s simple for me, a 3 and a 5) of the lockdown, and this time my wife was a bit mor confident trimming the neckline. I’m not as good as the barber obvs, and my cut only lasts 2 weeks before needing redoing, rather than 3, but at a rural £10 a pop plus tip, the clippers (Chinese rechargeable ones) will be paid for after 4 cuts, and the quality is good enough for my critical wife to say it looks ok. Certainly good enough for the office when I’m finally allowed back in. I can see my visits the the barbers reducing dramatically post lockdown.

My wife is threatening to give me a haircut - not that it's really required.   I fear that if she does do the need copious amounts of marmalade will be required . . . .  :hand:







. . . . you'll need to have seen Paddington 2 and Tom Conti to get the humour.


Rob
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 03 May, 2020, 06:18:25 pm
I suspect it is a major cash flow management issue. Vouchers mean we still have your money but a refund may mean we have no funds to pay staff and collapse.

Troo, dat, but if we're unable to rebook before the year has expired then BA will effectively have stolen more than eight hundred of our precious BRITONS' pounds.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 04 May, 2020, 09:53:35 am
I suspect it is a major cash flow management issue. Vouchers mean we still have your money but a refund may mean we have no funds to pay staff and collapse.

Troo, dat, but if we're unable to rebook before the year has expired then BA will effectively have stolen more than eight hundred of our precious BRITONS' pounds.

It's this, a voucher or credit means they've still booked the revenue. Refunding is a loss and has to be funded. The coughed up from my far east adventure pretty quick (they did offer vouchers, we both laughed, but that was Singapore Airlines).

Be interesting if we're allowed out for south of France trip in July, we're letting it roll for now in the assumption that it might happen...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 04 May, 2020, 03:36:27 pm
There are some laptops that have the camera below the screen. My brother has one (you can see the top row of the keyboard easily if the screen is angled too flat). That makes it even worse.

For laptops where the camera is at the top of the screen you still get NostrilView(TM) if the person is sat too close (usually, on work calls, because they are often typing or reading emails at the same time). Most of our VC calls are family calls and so we sit back from the laptop to get all of us in and there's no view up our nostrils.

Also if you're on the heavy side, it ends up with you looking like you're made of chins.

I don't have the camera enabled on my laptop, but have a small keyboard based android device (Gemini by Planet computers for anyone who wants to google), it has no personal data on it, so I use it for camera based stuff. it doesn't sit too great at the right angle tho, so I spent half an hour with openscad, and a couple more with the 3d printer, and made a tripod mount for the pda. It now sits at about eye level, to the side of my laptop, makes for a better angle.

The thing I'm finding more annoying is the people who have a window behind them, it makes them look like a silhouetted informant on a real crime documentary... Hang a sheet across the window, it doesn't take much.

J
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 04 May, 2020, 03:39:47 pm
And being able to attend them naked from the waist down. :thumbsup:

Winnie-the-pooh style...

J
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 04 May, 2020, 03:53:19 pm
And being able to attend them naked from the waist down. :thumbsup:

Winnie-the-pooh style...

J

Bear from the waist down?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 04 May, 2020, 04:08:55 pm

Bear from the waist down?

Yup
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Greenbank on 04 May, 2020, 08:06:33 pm
British Airways have finally confirmed that our flights from London's famous London to Stornoway next month are cancelled, though have not yet done the same for the return leg ???  They have offered vouchers in compo, which have a time limit of a year on them.  While we fully intend to go there next year instead, there's no guarantees re when we can book Stuffs, so Miss von Brandenburg is going to grink them and demand Money with Menaces.

Now I have to cancel the car hire.  Bah.
You don't have to accept the vouchers.
I heard Simon Calder on the wireless the other day - The legal position is: if the airline cancels the flight, they have to reimburse you using cash, in full, within 7 days of the cancellation.

Ta,  I shall pass this intel onto Miss von B as soon as I'm on the Proper Computer.

The other thing that was discussed on the radio programme, was how much the airlines were 'trying it on' when it came to issuing refunds to their customers.
With Ryanair at the helm of these miscreants.

I suspect it is a major cash flow management issue. Vouchers mean we still have your money but a refund may mean we have no funds to pay staff and collapse.

And if you take vouchers and lots of other people demand the cash they're legally allowed to claim then the airline has no funds and can't pay staff and collapses AND YOUR VOUCHERS ARE WORTHLESS.

If you try to be kind to them you can end up getting completely screwed. Best to demand the cash.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 04 May, 2020, 08:51:07 pm

Bear from the waist down?

Yup

Oops

(https://s3.amazonaws.com/lowres.cartoonstock.com/miscellaneous-lead_balloons-ballon-balloons-sell-selling-sden259_low.jpg)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Ham on 04 May, 2020, 09:09:02 pm

And if you take vouchers and lots of other people demand the cash they're legally allowed to claim then the airline has no funds and can't pay staff and collapses AND YOUR VOUCHERS ARE WORTHLESS.

If you try to be kind to them you can end up getting completely screwed. Best to demand the cash.

Not quite. If your original booking is covered by ABTA/ATOL, then so are the vouchers.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 05 May, 2020, 10:20:28 am
I just remind myself of the astounding generosity of the airlines over the years when I've needed to change something or they've stranded me in some grim airport hotel with a meal voucher (no alcohol, please, I'm a voucher).

Take the cash. Always.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 05 May, 2020, 10:34:48 am
Talking of airlines, my sister shared some pics of Bournemouth airport the other day - she took my plane-mad nephew along to look at all the beached planes. There are hundreds of them.

Extinction Rebellion are doing a socially distanced protest there today.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 05 May, 2020, 11:12:46 am
I just remind myself of the astounding generosity of the airlines over the years when I've needed to change something or they've stranded me in some grim airport hotel with a meal voucher (no alcohol, please, I'm a voucher).

Take the cash. Always.

BA did once offer me an all-expenses night in San Francisco AND $500 in crispy banknotes if I would kindly desist from travelling on their overbooked aer-o-plane.  But I declined, being a conscientious soul who did not want to be a day late returning to jbex.

Bloody idiot.

Anyway, Mr Sainsbury's House Of Toothy Comestibles actually had Proper Milk today, but forced me to buy KP's peanuts which are more expensive, and less yummy, than their own-brand ones.  The bastards.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 05 May, 2020, 12:13:06 pm
In olden times, as a jobbing academic who could instruct lab minions to dispense the cH3m1K4Lz during my absence, I used to pocket a fair amount of instantly spendable airline largesse for voluntarily vacating their overbooked aeroplanes.

In more recent years there seems to have been less overbooking (which was always guaranteed on US domestic flights) and only the offer of tiresome vouchers.

Someone sent me a bag of Virginian peanuts once that claimed their nuts were better than Jimmy Carter's. I have, for the record, never tasted Jimmy Carter's nuts.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 05 May, 2020, 06:27:39 pm
I accepted KLM's vouchers mainly cos I couldn't be arsed with the prospect of fighting with them for money.
And also because they pulled a sneaky one by cancelling my flights and then un-cancelling them again some days later.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 05 May, 2020, 07:57:15 pm
I attacked my head with a pair of scissors, borrowed clippers and two mirrors today. I'm going to be wearing a hat for a while.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 06 May, 2020, 11:57:51 am
At some point in the past we registered our son as a vulnerable individual, which was then very helpful in getting online shopping slots.

Out of the blue this morning, knock on the door and a large food parcel handed over, much like Wowbagger's experience.  Not requested, just appeared.  It has been distrubuted amongst our cupboards  and mostly to the two carers who look after him.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Regulator on 06 May, 2020, 12:14:37 pm
Mr R's trust own a garden nursery, which is used as therapy for some clients.  They were offering some very good deal on vegetable plants and compost, delivered to peoples' offices.  I now have some more tomato plants and a couple of courgettes to get planted out over the weekend.   :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 06 May, 2020, 02:57:46 pm
France Info says that rural men and urban women have put on more weight during lockdown than rural women and urban men.

They're right.* :(

* from own survey with N=1
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: TimC on 06 May, 2020, 06:15:46 pm
Does that mean I must be in France...?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: andytheflyer on 06 May, 2020, 06:41:38 pm
At some point in the past we registered our son as a vulnerable individual, which was then very helpful in getting online shopping slots.

Out of the blue this morning, knock on the door and a large food parcel handed over............

My wife is in the middle of maybe a year's worth of cancer treatment, so the NHS identified her as vulnerable - and since we cannot afford for her to get the bug and maybe have the rest of her treatment deferred or cancelled, we are both locked in.  About 3 weeks ago we had a call from our local authority asking if we needed anything - and I was able to say no because the village shops have sorted out home deliveries, so we can survive.  I was surprised to get the call because at that time neither Sainsbury or Tesco (our nearest supermarkets) had her on the priority list - although Tesco now do - thx to help from the LA, so we have just had our first Tesco delivery after 6 weeks of corner shop grub!  Yippeee!

Fortunately we've not had an unsolicited LA food parcel - hopefully ours are going to someone who really needs it.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 06 May, 2020, 07:21:19 pm
We haven't had a food box this week. Last week Dez told the delivery driver from Brake Bros that we didn't need it and at last the message seems to have got through.

I've managed to get a c& c slot for Saturday. That's more convenient than Monday, as our Riverford deliveries are on Wednesday and by the time Sunday comes round all our fresh veg is beginning to look something other than fresh.

Jan and I went through the freezer contents and we have over a fortnight's worth of main-meal meat in store. I'm ordering less this week, but I might increase the booze order to make up for that.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: spesh on 06 May, 2020, 08:20:25 pm
Next-door-but-one are in the process of replacing the old wooden fence panels around their back yard with what look like composite ones, and rather than stack the waste pending the reopening of the municipal recycling centre or waste removal services being available, they are burning the remains of the old panels in a brazier...

1) At least it's burning cleaner than some of the stuff they have incinerated in the past.

2) They could have done with placing the brazier so that the flames wouldn't melt through their washing lines. Oopsie...  ;D :facepalm:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 06 May, 2020, 08:27:11 pm
Our local waste centre reopened today. It may have been lack of awareness, but when I went past on my way home (from my first visit to the office for 6 weeks) there were no obvious queues. We’ll load the car up With our stock of garden waste during the course of tomorrow, and when my wfh day finishes around 4:30 I’ll take a drive over.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 07 May, 2020, 04:30:14 am
Our local waste centre reopened today. It may have been lack of awareness, but when I went past on my way home (from my first visit to the office for 6 weeks) there were no obvious queues. We’ll load the car up With our stock of garden waste during the course of tomorrow, and when my wfh day finishes around 4:30 I’ll take a drive over.

Ours is re-opening. Even in normal times it's prone to queues. The new rules say you need to make an appointment.

And if people just turn up anyway? Could get ugly.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Nick H. on 07 May, 2020, 11:49:07 am
My lockdown story is that I've become a small-time vulture capitalist by buying self-indulgent luxuries which seem to be going cheap because of the virus. I've blown a chunk of my pension. Maybe I'm a shopapolic. I've got to stop now. I live in one of the most poverty-stricken parts of the country. There's so much misery and poverty and business failure and unemployment everywhere...and rather a lot of death...and I've spent £2,000 on these. They're almost new. RRP was £5,600. They're so beautiful that I'm drowning in oxytocin. When I hold them I feel like a lottery winner. Haven't used them yet, waiting for a cassette to arrive:

(https://i.imgur.com/g4Z3lRr.jpg)


I'm also buying this. It has a couple of minor faults. In normal times the dealer would have sorted them out and sold it for £5000+. But he's furloughed his staff and is trying to shift stock to keep his head above water. So I'm snapping it up for £3670 without seeing it or ever test riding one. I paid £400 and will pay the balance when it arrives. It's in a van on the way from York to Brixton.

 (https://i.imgur.com/taTOO0g.jpg)


Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 07 May, 2020, 06:03:57 pm
I'm also buying this. It has a couple of minor faults. In normal times the dealer would have sorted them out and sold it for £5000+. But he's furloughed his staff and is trying to shift stock to keep his head above water. So I'm snapping it up for £3670 without seeing it or ever test riding one. I paid £400 and will pay the balance when it arrives. It's in a van on the way from York to Brixton.

 (https://i.imgur.com/taTOO0g.jpg)

Insurance will complete the depletion of your pension I should think!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Nick H. on 07 May, 2020, 06:05:36 pm
£93 for insurance, parked on the street in Brixton.  :smug:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 07 May, 2020, 06:08:04 pm
Our local waste centre reopened today. It may have been lack of awareness, but when I went past on my way home (from my first visit to the office for 6 weeks) there were no obvious queues. We’ll load the car up With our stock of garden waste during the course of tomorrow, and when my wfh day finishes around 4:30 I’ll take a drive over.

Well that was fine. Turned up, behind one other car. Showed my proof of address through the closed window and was waved in. Around the back, stopped again and asked what I had to dump. Request radioed up to the road by the containers. As soon as a slot was free - some 5 minutes - I was waved up. The car 3 behind me obviously had  something other than the garden waste those in front had. They’d were waved down a bypass lane to go up. Well organised, but very few folk there really. We now have 8 empty sacks to refill.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jurek on 07 May, 2020, 07:28:39 pm
My lockdown story is that I've become a small-time vulture capitalist by buying self-indulgent luxuries which seem to be going cheap because of the virus. I've blown a chunk of my pension. Maybe I'm a shopapolic. I've got to stop now. I live in one of the most poverty-stricken parts of the country. There's so much misery and poverty and business failure and unemployment everywhere...and rather a lot of death...and I've spent £2,000 on these. They're almost new. RRP was £5,600. They're so beautiful that I'm drowning in oxytocin. When I hold them I feel like a lottery winner. Haven't used them yet, waiting for a cassette to arrive:

........ parked on the street in Brixton.  :smug:

My bold
Srsly?
You're havin' an Edith. ;)



Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Nick H. on 07 May, 2020, 08:05:43 pm
It's true. 46% of children are in poverty in Coldharbour ward, in central Brixton, the ward I live in. http://www.walcotfoundation.org.uk/news/new-london-child-poverty-figures-out-today-what-of-lambeth#
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 11 May, 2020, 07:54:12 am


The local electricery board has decided that the middle of the Pandemic is the ideal time to come and replace the power feed to the building. They just turned the power off to start the work. Fortunately I have an old UPS I made sure to charge up, and a tiny wireless AP that can run off a USB power bank. This should at least keep me online for most of the day. I hope. If the UPS batteries hold out...

*fingers crossed*

J
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 11 May, 2020, 01:17:16 pm
The mixed messages get more mixed, the below is from our management (I'm currently WFH). The bold and italics are my own...

"From the most recent address by P.M. Johnson on May 10, 2020 we are encouraged to return to work, providing it is safe to do so, for those who work in the manufacturing and construction industries.  And as all our positions are connected directly to our manufactured product, all employees ultimately are required to return to work in our UK facilities.

We are now waiting clear guidance from the governmental authorities regarding steps for providing a safe working environment.  These guidelines are expected within this week and will be implemented as quickly and safely as possible.

While we await for the full return of our teams, for those currently working from home, when you do need to visit the facility you will be expected to follow your contractual working hours for that day you are in the office."

Should be fun, the only way I can access my desk is by passing through the canteen / tea & coffee making area, where the shop floor staff eat their lunches. No easy to keep 2m apart there - but then when I went in last week I saw two guys working closely on a single machine, some tasks needing more than one pair of hands. And our office corridors are barely 1m wide, and no one-way system had been attempted. Plus what of those shielding, or, like me, living with someone who is shielding?  We await developments.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Regulator on 11 May, 2020, 01:32:08 pm
The mixed messages get more mixed, the below is from our management (I'm currently WFH). The bold and italics are my own...

"From the most recent address by P.M. Johnson on May 10, 2020 we are encouraged to return to work, providing it is safe to do so, for those who work in the manufacturing and construction industries.  And as all our positions are connected directly to our manufactured product, all employees ultimately are required to return to work in our UK facilities.

We are now waiting clear guidance from the governmental authorities regarding steps for providing a safe working environment.  These guidelines are expected within this week and will be implemented as quickly and safely as possible.

While we await for the full return of our teams, for those currently working from home, when you do need to visit the facility you will be expected to follow your contractual working hours for that day you are in the office."

Should be fun, the only way I can access my desk is by passing through the canteen / tea & coffee making area, where the shop floor staff eat their lunches. No easy to keep 2m apart there - but then when I went in last week I saw two guys working closely on a single machine, some tasks needing more than one pair of hands. And our office corridors are barely 1m wide, and no one-way system had been attempted. Plus what of those shielding, or, like me, living with someone who is shielding?  We await developments.

Take a look at Section 44 (https://section44.co.uk/)...

For those who prefer it a version from the Institute of Employment Rights (https://www.ier.org.uk/comments/the-coronavirus-rights-to-leave-the-workplace-and-strikes/).
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 13 May, 2020, 10:59:02 am
Our lockdown is over, but the gendarmes seem to be feeling the lack already.  Yesterday El Prez was cycling through a small town near here when a gendarme stopped him and said "Don't you know there's a cycle path that avoids this road? Why aren't you on it?"  El Prez replied quite reasonably that the path in question had kerbs at each end, that you had to cross streams of traffic at both ends to get on and off it, that there were always kids playing on it, that it rejoined the road he was on anyway, and that in any case it was not obligatory.  Gendarme replied "If I tell you to use it's obligatory, and if I see you on this road again I'll give you a ticket".

Gulp.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: spesh on 13 May, 2020, 11:38:01 am
Our lockdown is over, but the gendarmes seem to be feeling the lack already.  Yesterday El Prez was cycling through a small town near here when a gendarme stopped him and said "Don't you know there's a cycle path that avoids this road? Why aren't you on it?"  El Prez replied quite reasonably that the path in question had kerbs at each end, that you had to cross streams of traffic at both ends to get on and off it, that there were always kids playing on it, that it rejoined the road he was on anyway, and that in any case it was not obligatory.  Gendarme replied "If I tell you to use it's obligatory, and if I see you on this road again I'll give you a ticket".

Gulp.

So much for ye olde gag about what's permitted and forbidden...

“In England, everything is permitted except what is forbidden. In Germany, everything is forbidden except what is permitted. In France, everything is allowed, even what is prohibited. In the USSR, everything is prohibited, even what is permitted."

Then again, you're in the Alsace, so I suppose a little confusion as to which country the gendarme thinks he is in is understandable.  :demon: ;D
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 13 May, 2020, 11:42:11 am
New symptom: cold toes!  :D I've been standing in the door for half an hour talking to my sister and nephew in the garden. They were dressed for it, I wasn't.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 13 May, 2020, 02:23:13 pm
Our lockdown is over, but the gendarmes seem to be feeling the lack already.  Yesterday El Prez was cycling through a small town near here when a gendarme stopped him and said "Don't you know there's a cycle path that avoids this road? Why aren't you on it?"  El Prez replied quite reasonably that the path in question had kerbs at each end, that you had to cross streams of traffic at both ends to get on and off it, that there were always kids playing on it, that it rejoined the road he was on anyway, and that in any case it was not obligatory.  Gendarme replied "If I tell you to use it's obligatory, and if I see you on this road again I'll give you a ticket".

Gulp.

So much for ye olde gag about what's permitted and forbidden...

“In England, everything is permitted except what is forbidden. In Germany, everything is forbidden except what is permitted. In France, everything is allowed, even what is prohibited. In the USSR, everything is prohibited, even what is permitted."

Then again, you're in the Alsace, so I suppose a little confusion as to which country the gendarme thinks he is in is understandable.  :demon: ;D

Possibly, but the gendarmerie take courses in being bastards and like to apply their training wherever possible.  Years ago near Paris I parked slightly illegally while MrsT hopped out for a minute to pick up some bread, and was told by a passing gendarme to move on. When I replied that I was only stopped for a few seconds he replied "Oh, so you want to argue, do you?"  I didn't.  Trouble is that in France, even when you're within your rights, you can be done for failing to obey a peeler.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 13 May, 2020, 08:53:33 pm
My sister, wot are a violin teacher, has been teaching since lockdown via Zoom. This is awful but better than nothing. Tomorrow she's giving her first group lesson via Zoom. Six pupils and her, so that makes a total of 14 different lag times for audio and video. She's got the solution though; for the group playing, everyone will be on mute apart from her!  :D ::-)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 13 May, 2020, 09:33:21 pm
Our lockdown is over, but the gendarmes seem to be feeling the lack already.  Yesterday El Prez was cycling through a small town near here when a gendarme stopped him and said "Don't you know there's a cycle path that avoids this road? Why aren't you on it?"  El Prez replied quite reasonably that the path in question had kerbs at each end, that you had to cross streams of traffic at both ends to get on and off it, that there were always kids playing on it, that it rejoined the road he was on anyway, and that in any case it was not obligatory.  Gendarme replied "If I tell you to use it's obligatory, and if I see you on this road again I'll give you a ticket".

Gulp.

So much for ye olde gag about what's permitted and forbidden...

“In England, everything is permitted except what is forbidden. In Germany, everything is forbidden except what is permitted. In France, everything is allowed, even what is prohibited. In the USSR, everything is prohibited, even what is permitted."

Then again, you're in the Alsace, so I suppose a little confusion as to which country the gendarme thinks he is in is understandable.  :demon: ;D

Possibly, but the gendarmerie take courses in being bastards and like to apply their training wherever possible.  Years ago near Paris I parked slightly illegally while MrsT hopped out for a minute to pick up some bread, and was told by a passing gendarme to move on. When I replied that I was only stopped for a few seconds he replied "Oh, so you want to argue, do you?"  I didn't.  Trouble is that in France, even when you're within your rights, you can be done for failing to obey a peeler.

I got used to dealing with uk customs officers, who at the time had more power than the police. You never argued with them.  They could raid your home at 2 a.m. if they don't like you.  I knew people they had done that to.  It's not nice.

When in France I was stopped 3 times by the gendarmy.  The first time I'd turned left and he said I didn't oughta ha' done it.  I agreed and promised never to do it again whereupon he let me go.  Then it was a random breath test near where a wedding was being held.  Again I was as polite as they were and all was well.  Third time another random check, got the laptop out did an internet check, all ok, saluted me and stopped the traffic so I could pull back out. 

I'd be even more careful near Paris!

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Greenbank on 13 May, 2020, 09:44:06 pm
I've done 5882 steps so far today, working from home.

The scary thing is I've been out and done a 5k run which would account for about 4600 of them (1.07m stride length according to the Garmin).
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: bludger on 13 May, 2020, 09:47:30 pm
I didn't realise France has mandatory paths.

I only found out about their fluoro vests rule after finishing my 400 (though it had started in Belgium).
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Andrew Br on 13 May, 2020, 10:28:17 pm
Headline on an e-mail that I've received from Cyclist Magazine:-

"Brompton sales see five-fold increase during Covid-19 crisis".

Is it genius or just an accident ?
I'd like to think it's the former.

BTW: it's so long since I've ridden a Brompton that I can't remember how many steps there are to fold it.

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: fuzzy on 13 May, 2020, 10:30:39 pm
Headline on an e-mail that I've received from Cyclist Magazine:-

"Brompton sales see five-fold increase during Covid-19 crisis".

Is it genius or just an accident ?
I'd like to think it's the former.

BTW: it's so long since I've ridden a Brompton that I can't remember how many steps there are to fold it.
5
Rear under
Front round
Bars down
Saddle down
Left pedal up
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 13 May, 2020, 10:33:33 pm
Headline on an e-mail that I've received from Cyclist Magazine:-

"Brompton sales see five-fold increase during Covid-19 crisis".

Is it genius or just an accident ?
I'd like to think it's the former.

BTW: it's so long since I've ridden a Brompton that I can't remember how many steps there are to fold it.
5
Rear under
Front round
Bars down
Saddle down
Left pedal up

You've got them in the wrong order thobut:

Rear under
Left pedal off
Front round
Saddle down
Bars down
*PING!*[1]


[1] This being the main reason that Bromptons are equipped with bells.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 14 May, 2020, 08:33:39 am
Huge demand for bikes during lockdown set to grow further (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/11/huge-demand-for-cycles-during-lockdown-set-to-rise-further)

Quote
..cycle-to-work schemes that give tax benefits to employees to buy a new bike from official stores have reported a doubling in sales – a figure that is expected to rise even further as workers realise they can get a new bike without an upfront payment.

“There has been a huge increase in cycling during the lockdown, but even so there are millions of people in our towns and cities who have bikes they never or seldom use,” said Graham Stapleton, the chief executive of Halfords. “For the good of our health, the environment and the NHS, now is the time for commuters to change their habits and start cycling to work.”

Remember the 'Bomb-dodgers'? 

Now joined by the 'Virus-evaders'.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Efrogwr on 14 May, 2020, 09:20:02 am
E Minor is teaching juggling via Zoom. He and his mates run weekly circus skills sessions in Llanberis;this is a way to keep up some momentum.

They've also made a couple of instruction videos for a community outreach project at Bangor University.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: nicknack on 14 May, 2020, 10:04:47 am
I've done 5882 steps so far today, working from home.

The scary thing is I've been out and done a 5k run which would account for about 4600 of them (1.07m stride length according to the Garmin).
The other day I did 5000 steps round the sofa.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 14 May, 2020, 11:03:11 am
I didn't realise France has mandatory paths.

I only found out about their fluoro vests rule after finishing my 400 (though it had started in Belgium).

France has mandatory and optional paths.  Mandatory ones have a blue circular sign and optional ones have a square.  The path in question doesn't have either, just a wee green arrow with a bike on it, which just means that if you ride on it it'll go somewhere.  It has been observed that the mandatory ones are usually so lousy that if they weren't mandatory you wouldn't use them.

Fluo vests are mandatory outside towns between sunset and dawn, but not within city limits.  The first ticket handed out in Alsace for not wearing one was in Strasbourg.  Sometimes the Lawr is indeed an arse. Oui, Monsieur l'Agent. Merci, Monsieur l'Agent. Unfortunately, three bags full does not translate as idiom.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: phantasmagoriana on 14 May, 2020, 11:11:47 am
I've done 5882 steps so far today, working from home.

The scary thing is I've been out and done a 5k run which would account for about 4600 of them (1.07m stride length according to the Garmin).
The other day I did 5000 steps round the sofa.

I seem to get a maximum of about 2000 a day working from home. :-\
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 14 May, 2020, 11:24:25 am
I managed to get about 7000 on Monday when having a day off and working in the garden. I'm not sure if every swing of the pick, shovel load, or stroke of the pruning saw was counted as a step
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 14 May, 2020, 11:28:23 am
E Minor is teaching juggling via Zoom. He and his mates run weekly circus skills sessions in Llanberis;this is a way to keep up some momentum.

They've also made a couple of instruction videos for a community outreach project at Bangor University.
Momentum is pretty important in most circus skills, I'd have thought. Certainly juggling.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 15 May, 2020, 12:17:45 pm
I managed to get about 7000 on Monday when having a day off and working in the garden. I'm not sure if every swing of the pick, shovel load, or stroke of the pruning saw was counted as a step

Not sure about what counts.  When I was decorating the hall stairs and landing it hardly counted at all.

Yesterday my cycle-shopping trip got me up to 5.5k then after I got back Mrs A decided she wanted to go for a walk, I think she has been reading about vitamin D because making the decision herself is a first.  And we walked further than usual.. so just under 15k.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 15 May, 2020, 12:54:59 pm
Socially distanced going for a walk appears to have become a thing:  A couple of times yesterday I came across small groups of pedestrians, obviously together, walking on opposite sides of the road from each other.  In one case there was a third in the middle of the road with a pushchair, they all got a bit flustered when I rang my bell, and rearranged themselves to leave a sub-optimally narrow gap for me to cycle through.  No idea how they handled the van I met coming the other way.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Peter on 15 May, 2020, 01:04:55 pm
Yes, it's noticeable around here that a large number of the new cyclists ride on the pavements, while a similar percentage of new walkers occupy the middle of the roads and avoid the pavements - not, I think, because of the cyclists but because they think there won't be any traffic.

On a slightly different tack, there has been much talk and understandable, if opportunistic, exhortation about "pop-up" cycle facilities and improvements to cycle routes while the traffic was/is less intense.  Has anyone seen any single piece of evidence of this kind of thing happening - anywhere?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 15 May, 2020, 01:11:02 pm
I went for a socially distanced walk with a friend last week. It happened by accident actually, we happened to bump into each other in the nearby park (grassy area, trees, no fences) (which was a bit more crowded than I'd like). So we walked and talked, one in the middle of the road, one on the pavement. He's one of those people who think's he's probably had it – I'm not so sure he has but he's continuing to be very careful anyway, in part due to #underlying condition.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 15 May, 2020, 01:11:47 pm
My sister, wot are a violin teacher, has been teaching since lockdown via Zoom. This is awful but better than nothing. Tomorrow she's giving her first group lesson via Zoom. Six pupils and her, so that makes a total of 14 different lag times for audio and video. She's got the solution though; for the group playing, everyone will be on mute apart from her!  :D ::-)

This thread
https://macintouch.com/community/index.php?threads/remote-access-conferencing.970/post-27733
Has some points regarding Zoom and music teaching, and then some other suggestions.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 15 May, 2020, 01:32:59 pm
Thanks, I'll pass it on to her. I know she's sorted out the "original sound quality" feature but video latency remains a big problem. Not that there aren't others.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 15 May, 2020, 06:15:56 pm
On a slightly different tack, there has been much talk and understandable, if opportunistic, exhortation about "pop-up" cycle facilities and improvements to cycle routes while the traffic was/is less intense.  Has anyone seen any single piece of evidence of this kind of thing happening - anywhere?

Birmingham has closed some parking bays to provide more pavement space outside some closed shops.

You might be thinking "but that's not a cycling facility", and you'd be right.  There's an emergency plan to have made some plans within the next three weeks or so, with further plans ready by September and into 2021.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Ham on 15 May, 2020, 07:53:35 pm
My sister, wot are a violin teacher, has been teaching since lockdown via Zoom. This is awful but better than nothing. Tomorrow she's giving her first group lesson via Zoom. Six pupils and her, so that makes a total of 14 different lag times for audio and video. She's got the solution though; for the group playing, everyone will be on mute apart from her!  :D ::-)

(https://muppetcentral.com/_images/muppets/2011_movie/muppet_show_arches.jpg)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: yorkie on 15 May, 2020, 09:21:47 pm
On a slightly different tack, there has been much talk and understandable, if opportunistic, exhortation about "pop-up" cycle facilities and improvements to cycle routes while the traffic was/is less intense.  Has anyone seen any single piece of evidence of this kind of thing happening - anywhere?


York has a couple, Bishopthorpe Road is one way northbound for motor vehicles (bi-directional for cycles) past the shops to create extra space for pedestrians and Tower Street (which had the inside lane coned off for pedestrians to use whilst the bridge over the River Foss was being painted) has kept the cones, which have been repurposed as cycle lanes.


Others are in progress, it helps that the Deputy Council Leader/Transport Portfolio Holder is a Green Party councillor (and Cycle Campaign member!)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Davef on 15 May, 2020, 09:56:04 pm
On a slightly different tack, there has been much talk and understandable, if opportunistic, exhortation about "pop-up" cycle facilities and improvements to cycle routes while the traffic was/is less intense.  Has anyone seen any single piece of evidence of this kind of thing happening - anywhere?


York has a couple, Bishopthorpe Road is one way northbound for motor vehicles (bi-directional for cycles) past the shops to create extra space for pedestrians and Tower Street (which had the inside lane coned off for pedestrians to use whilst the bridge over the River Foss was being painted) has kept the cones, which have been repurposed as cycle lanes.


Others are in progress, it helps that the Deputy Council Leader/Transport Portfolio Holder is a Green Party councillor (and Cycle Campaign member!)
My insider contact on our district council who I met for tennis this morning says they have been told by central govt that money is definitely coming are still awaiting definite details on how much and when.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Paul H on 15 May, 2020, 10:48:43 pm
I have a home test kit and need to swab the back of my throat with a long cotton bud and then insert it into my nose - quite a long way!  I have till 7am to do it.
This is because two people where I had a temp job, became ill, everyone got sent home last Friday, those with cars got a drive through test Saturday and the results Mon, 2 negative and 1 positive. Those without a car, two of us, have had to wait till today for a home kit. By the time it's collected and I get the result, I'd have done two weeks isolation anyway. And as if being locked in my flat and stuffing things up my nose didn't piss me off enough, the agency are being shifty about whether there's a job to go back to. Yes I know, could be a whole lot worse, still...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Nutbeem on 15 May, 2020, 11:19:06 pm
Lockdown, 2am in the morning and we're driving slowly along the side of the road looking at each of the houses, undoubtably appearing highly suspicous to the Police Car that came up behind us, then swung round us, put on his blue lights and blocked the road.

Police Office walks over to us, stands 2 metres away and shines his torch into the car. Spotting our Nurses uniforms and equiptment his serious look turns to a smile & "Okay no problem, where are you looking for?" He also then helpfully escorted us to the address we were looking for.

Actually it's something we knew would happend at some point as we'd been seeing a lot more Police Vehicles on general patrol during the evening and small hourse over the last few weeks. I presume closure of the pubs, clubs and 24hr MacD's mean they aren't so tied up dealing with alcohol related (mis)behaviour.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 16 May, 2020, 12:04:33 am
I have a home test kit and need to swab the back of my throat with a long cotton bud and then insert it into my nose - quite a long way!  I have till 7am to do it.


The same swab? Eurghh!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: mattc on 16 May, 2020, 09:19:20 am
On a slightly different tack, there has been much talk and understandable, if opportunistic, exhortation about "pop-up" cycle facilities and improvements to cycle routes while the traffic was/is less intense.  Has anyone seen any single piece of evidence of this kind of thing happening - anywhere?
Lots of pictures online of stuff in That London.
I hear Manchester has already closed some roads in the centre.

I ain't seen none out here in the Provinces, lots of talk though! I might be in Oxford later, if anywhere does it, they will.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 16 May, 2020, 09:49:23 am
The Rector of Lourdes is appealing for a surge of pilgrims after two months of lockdown has put an 8-million-euro hole in takings.  To avoid any risk to their health, the faithful won't actually be allowed into the famous grotto with its healing waters, but will be able to stand on the far side of a river and peer in with binoculars.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: liam_whippet on 16 May, 2020, 09:54:46 am
So it'll be a miracle if they see anything at all?

Je prends mon gilet...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 16 May, 2020, 11:28:16 am
We went to Lourdes once cos it was too wet for cycling. It was a ghastly crass shit hole. Every shop you walked past had piles of plastic jerrycans of water outside. Classy.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Paul H on 16 May, 2020, 12:19:47 pm
I have a home test kit and need to swab the back of my throat with a long cotton bud and then insert it into my nose - quite a long way!  I have till 7am to do it.


The same swab? Eurghh!
Yes, and it was Eurghh!
Courier has just been to collect it, after shouting Covid test from the landing for all my neighbors to hear.  The process was supposed to be that they move 2 meters back, I place it outside the door and go back inside - the reality was I opened the door and he took it out of my hand, wearing gloves, but no mask and no distance.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 16 May, 2020, 12:55:28 pm
The Rector of Lourdes is appealing for a surge of pilgrims after two months of lockdown has put an 8-million-euro hole in takings.  To avoid any risk to their health, the faithful won't actually be allowed into the famous grotto with its healing waters, but will be able to stand on the far side of a river and peer in with binoculars.

Homeopathic miracles!  They're the future!  Free with every red mercury-powered 5G bat control module!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: grams on 16 May, 2020, 02:22:01 pm
Lots of pictures online of stuff in That London.

There's quite a few road closures and pavement widenings, but the only bit of cycle infrastructure in London that exists is a half-arsed isolated bit of cycle lane down a short section of one side of Park Lane. Lots of noise about more, but reality is a disappointment.

(TfL put out a press release 10 days ago implying they'd already installed one on Euston Road. Not a single cone has been laid AFAIK)

There's a more substantial bit in Leicester that's doing the rounds.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Edd on 18 May, 2020, 04:30:35 pm
"I try and keep my kid away from people but they just aren't giving us space" says the lady chatting to her friend and their husband (and kid) whilst standing in the middle of a cross isle between vegetables and bread in a large supermarket
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 18 May, 2020, 08:08:03 pm
This cat keeper is amazing!
https://twitter.com/chrismd10/status/1262431963371225091?s=19
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 18 May, 2020, 09:59:14 pm
Good thing that pandemic's over and it's now okay to greet your friend you haven't seen for a while with manly hugs in the supermarket...   :facepalm:

Most people seem to have given up on face covering, too.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 21 May, 2020, 04:18:06 pm
I've given away a bicycle!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 21 May, 2020, 04:22:33 pm
I've given away a bicycle!

One I Love Me Jacket™ to Wow's place, nurses in white suits, to Wow's place.

J
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 21 May, 2020, 04:52:58 pm
Some of my neighbours round the corner are well into the Thursday weekend session. Two guitars and a drum set (all acoustic, thankfully!) in the garden, playing what might be generally described as 60s stoner rock. Beer is in evidence, as is that scent of the stoner rock, and they're actually playing quite well. Plus, if I want to listen, I can hear them in the garden, if I go inside to work, I can't.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 21 May, 2020, 04:55:33 pm
I've given away a bicycle!

One I Love Me Jacket™ to Wow's place, nurses in white suits, to Wow's place.

J

It's a bicycle with a history.

A nice little 24" wheel steel-framed Nottingham-built Raleigh that we bought for our daughter for her 10th birthday. She had been in possession of it for about an hour when she came off and lost her front teeth. I found her teeth but it took half an hour and by the time we got her to the hospital they had died. However, they shoved them back into the sockets and they stayed there for the best 17 years until one of them broke.

Cost of bicycle: £120 or thereabouts.

Cost of tooth implants when she was 27: £5000 or thereabouts.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 21 May, 2020, 05:01:30 pm
Good thing that pandemic's over and it's now okay to greet your friend you haven't seen for a while with manly hugs in the supermarket...   :facepalm:

Most people seem to have given up on face covering, too.
I only wore mine for the first time today! I was the only customer in the Co-op who did, but then there were only about four in total.

I did see my neighbour in there, but she's definitely not someone I'd give manly hugs even at the best of times.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 21 May, 2020, 05:05:19 pm
Good thing that pandemic's over and it's now okay to greet your friend you haven't seen for a while with manly hugs in the supermarket...   :facepalm:

Most people seem to have given up on face covering, too.
I only wore mine for the first time today! I was the only customer in the Co-op who did, but then there were only about four in total.

I did see my neighbour in there, but she's definitely not someone I'd give manly hugs even at the best of times.

Same here, didn't see anyone wearing a mask on my trip to the supermarket and back.

J
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 21 May, 2020, 05:12:02 pm
Good thing that pandemic's over and it's now okay to greet your friend you haven't seen for a while with manly hugs in the supermarket...   :facepalm:

Most people seem to have given up on face covering, too.
I only wore mine for the first time today! I was the only customer in the Co-op who did, but then there were only about four in total.

I did see my neighbour in there, but she's definitely not someone I'd give manly hugs even at the best of times.

Same here, didn't see anyone wearing a mask on my trip to the supermarket and back.

J

Just about everyone we saw had them in Super U on Tuesday, ditto Aldi except one bloke who had his tucked under his chin.  In the pharmacy they've given up on them and switched to acetate visors because they were getting headaches.

BTW, you know how you're supposed to ram your face into the crook of your elbow when you sneeze or cough? Must be interesting with a visor on.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 21 May, 2020, 05:15:16 pm
What sort of masks were the pharmacists using? Cos a few shops here (actually I can only think of two, the bakery and a greengrocers) have issued their staff with those visors and the bakery staff were complaining about how difficult they are in the heat.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Paul on 21 May, 2020, 06:51:24 pm
I've given away a bicycle!
I’ve given away two of late. Suzy’s Dolce went somewhere it’ll get used, and a passable 700c hybrid went to a single mum so she could go out cycling with her kids.

 O:-)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 22 May, 2020, 03:26:59 pm
I've given away a bicycle!
I’ve given away two of late. Suzy’s Dolce went somewhere it’ll get used, and a passable 700c hybrid went to a single mum so she could go out cycling with her kids.

 O:-)

I used one in part-payment for some fence panels, fitted by a neighbour who is short of work, who also want to go out with his kids.

A courier called a short while ago, delivering 8 bottles of Fullers 1845 ale direct from their online shop, as a thank-you for the bicycle.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: The Family Cyclist on 22 May, 2020, 04:27:27 pm
I loaned a front brake and got a crap bike back with the front brake attached to in return about a month later when they got a new bike. Pedals off crap bike are on my fast road bike which is on loan with a mate who doesn't use clip less pedals and thr front brakes on my eldest monkeys bike as hers broke. Rest of the bike went in the metal skip
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 22 May, 2020, 04:36:37 pm
I went to the local health food / green shop today, for muesli ingredients.  I noted whilst waiting outside (only 2 inside at a time - minor grumble, it was a couple and she was just wandering about looking at things) that they had hand sanitizer with 70% grain alcohol content. I got my turn, and went to the wall dispensers for oats. A sign said to use hand sanitizer first.  I looked about but saw non of the gel, so asked, and was directed to a trigger spray bottle of “sanitizer - kills 99.9% of germs - contains no alcohol” stuff. I used it, but commented that “that won’t work”. “Read the label” said she (the owner).  I said, yes, it’ll (maybe) kill bacteria, but it probably won’t kill a virus.  I was not popular.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 22 May, 2020, 04:47:03 pm
From what I recall of The People Here Who Know saying, even 70% alcohol isn't enough, it needs to be about 80%. Or maybe I'm misremembering?

Ed: Surgical spirit is widely available. Presumably that should do it. Perhaps not too kind on your skin in regular use though.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 22 May, 2020, 05:02:50 pm
Today, I used Tesco Click & Collect For the first time. It was brilliant. No queue whatsoever (the store had a 50+ person queue). Opened the boot and they loaded it in for me. Only 2 items out of stock. I’d asked for no substitutes and that was noted. However a picking error meant I did get my 3 tins of peach slices in juice - Del Monte instead of own brand. Now to try and secure another slot in 3-4 weeks time. Even if it’s a late evening one. Weekly fresh shop will still be M&S and farm shop. 
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 22 May, 2020, 05:51:18 pm
From what I recall of The People Here Who Know saying, even 70% alcohol isn't enough, it needs to be about 80%. Or maybe I'm misremembering?

Ed: Surgical spirit is widely available. Presumably that should do it. Perhaps not too kind on your skin in regular use though.

The figure of 60% was doing the rounds some weeks ago as I recall commenting that Abelour A'Bunadh single malt would work. Better than swallowing bleach or taking a torch up your arse anyway.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Greenbank on 22 May, 2020, 07:14:59 pm
Forgot to say yesterday:-

Fast action dried yeast! In Mr Sainsbury's Small Local House Of Toothy Comestibles!

I now have everything I need to do some baking. Cinnamon buns are going to be first up tomorrow (https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cinnamon_buns_10634)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 26 May, 2020, 06:45:05 am
Quick trip into Ely yesterday to Wilko's. Ely residents seem very conservative stood outside the shop, even when 2m spacings are taped on the pavement, not quite so good inside. I was wearing a mask myself, need to find a better fit though as it was really chafing behind one ear. Saw a total of thee other people wearing masks.

Maybe everyone in Ely simply suffers from exceptional circumstances.

Of all that I was trying to find, got everything g except 75mm screws.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Regulator on 26 May, 2020, 07:19:21 am
Yes, it's noticeable around here that a large number of the new cyclists ride on the pavements, while a similar percentage of new walkers occupy the middle of the roads and avoid the pavements - not, I think, because of the cyclists but because they think there won't be any traffic.

On a slightly different tack, there has been much talk and understandable, if opportunistic, exhortation about "pop-up" cycle facilities and improvements to cycle routes while the traffic was/is less intense.  Has anyone seen any single piece of evidence of this kind of thing happening - anywhere?

It's happened in a couple of London boroughs that I'm aware of.

There was the promise from the government of money for local authorities to facilitate these changes.... but, surprise, surprise, nowt has been forthcoming from Whitehall.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 26 May, 2020, 08:49:55 am
Was crossing York's Millennium Bridge yesterday.  Crowd density was getting like a rock festival.  Lots of gardenless houses nearby.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Arminius on 26 May, 2020, 09:45:25 am
Was crossing York's Millennium Bridge yesterday.  Crowd density was getting like a rock festival.  Lots of gardenless houses nearby.

Yup, it's been like that every sunny day for the past couple of weeks. Not easy to socially distance on the bridge itself, definitely.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: meddyg on 26 May, 2020, 12:52:36 pm
Cardiff has initiated a new cycle lane in front of the Castle; it looks very temporary - a line of cones, and temporary blue/pedestrian cycling signs. An older couple were coming the wrong way' down the lane. They might still paint a pedestrian on the pavement bit and a squashed bicycle on the road - it's a start at least.

I can cycle across Cardiff in bus lanes and pretend it's 1960 ...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 26 May, 2020, 01:09:16 pm
We've just had a town turnout for a luminary who died a week ago. Main street lined, the Silver Band playing, applause as his hearse stopped outside his shop.

Far more than will be able to be at the graveside.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 26 May, 2020, 04:06:17 pm

I think the supermarkets may still be getting the hang of their stock control, just been to AH and noticed a lot of stuff is on offer, esp preserved stuff in jars. Annoyingly they had already sold out of the pickled beetroot I was actually looking to buy.

On the plus side, saved me nearly 20% off my shop.

J

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 27 May, 2020, 08:25:19 am
I think the supermarkets may still be getting the hang of their stock control

It's noticeable in my local Tesco that they have rationalised the range in some sections, so eg instead of 20 different types of spaghetti, you have huge quantities of just one type.

The tinned soups and beans are also notably abundant.

It's like they've worked out it's better to give people what they actually want rather than trying to sell them the myth of choice.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 27 May, 2020, 09:29:14 am
Yeah, most choice is in fact 'faux choice.' I read an article years ago about the fact that so many of these different brands were basically all made in the same factories with minimal recipe/industrial process changes. The vaunted choice of the local giant supermarket is actually not that much more than a modest high street shop. The shelf space in a bigger store is taken up with brands of the same products. We're just buying our favourite packaging.

I remember when I moved to the US – the cavernous local Big Y had a huge aisle, probably long enough to land the Space Shuttle down, completely dedicated to bagels. US bagels aren't edible, unless fresh, they're just some kind of vulcanized bread-derived product that make a reasonable hockey puck replacement.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: robgul on 27 May, 2020, 09:45:19 am
I think the supermarkets may still be getting the hang of their stock control

It's noticeable in my local Tesco that they have rationalised the range in some sections, so eg instead of 20 different types of spaghetti, you have huge quantities of just one type.

The tinned soups and beans are also notably abundant.

It's like they've worked out it's better to give people what they actually want rather than trying to sell them the myth of choice.

I understand that Tesco rationalised sausages from 64 options to "just" 15 at the start of the mad buying crisis.

Rob
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: L CC on 27 May, 2020, 09:54:39 am
Yeah, most choice is in fact 'faux choice.' I read an article years ago about the fact that so many of these different brands were basically all made in the same factories with minimal recipe/industrial process changes. The vaunted choice of the local giant supermarket is actually not that much more than a modest high street shop. The shelf space in a bigger store is taken up with brands of the same products. We're just buying our favourite packaging.

I'm in this business.
Sometimes, you're buying exactly the same. Tesco Wine Route = Isla Negra.
If there's a recipe, you're not. 'Brand' recipes are licensed. They're made in the same factory, but the recipe is different. If there is any way to make it cheaper, it will be. Even the difference between Haywards Pickled Onions and Morrison's pickled onions. The spec for the onions is wider, the recipe is cheaper (more syrup, less sugar, more water, less vinegar) and the spice mix is much cheaper- usually through flavour chemicals rather than actual spices. All the packaging is cheaper, cheaper glass, cheaper (less branding) closures, fewer colours in the labels, more generic cases.
Don't get me wrong, I'm always pushing Mr Smith to buy Malt Wheats rather than Shreddies, but I'm not kidding myself they are the same. They very rarely are, as soon as there's any processing. I have no idea why anyone buys Bero flour, though.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 27 May, 2020, 10:03:49 am
Hadn't heard of Bero flour. Someone on ebay is selling 1.1kg for £4.29.  :o

I understand that Tesco rationalised sausages from 64 options to "just" 15 at the start of the mad buying crisis.

Rob
Appropriate phrase.

The vaunted choice of the local giant supermarket is actually not that much more than a modest high street shop.
Which also has (to me) a much more pleasant, less intimidating/scary (in this fear-filled times) atmosphere. As well as being so much quicker to shop in and get to.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: FifeingEejit on 27 May, 2020, 10:38:05 am
Yeah, most choice is in fact 'faux choice.' I read an article years ago about the fact that so many of these different brands were basically all made in the same factories with minimal recipe/industrial process changes. The vaunted choice of the local giant supermarket is actually not that much more than a modest high street shop. The shelf space in a bigger store is taken up with brands of the same products. We're just buying our favourite packaging.

I'm in this business.
Sometimes, you're buying exactly the same. Tesco Wine Route = Isla Negra.
If there's a recipe, you're not. 'Brand' recipes are licensed. They're made in the same factory, but the recipe is different. If there is any way to make it cheaper, it will be. Even the difference between Haywards Pickled Onions and Morrison's pickled onions. The spec for the onions is wider, the recipe is cheaper (more syrup, less sugar, more water, less vinegar) and the spice mix is much cheaper- usually through flavour chemicals rather than actual spices. All the packaging is cheaper, cheaper glass, cheaper (less branding) closures, fewer colours in the labels, more generic cases.
Don't get me wrong, I'm always pushing Mr Smith to buy Malt Wheats rather than Shreddies, but I'm not kidding myself they are the same. They very rarely are, as soon as there's any processing. I have no idea why anyone buys Bero flour, though.

This reminds me of the day I compared the ingredients and traffic lights on a tine of Morrisons "Reduced Salt" Baked beans with a tin of normal Heinz.
It should be no surprise that the Morrisons Beans had twice as much salt in it as the Heinz.

Which leads into the "worse options easier to buy for less money" stuff
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: hatler on 27 May, 2020, 11:22:34 am
I did a Christmas holidays stint in Parrs pork pie factory one year. I was on the stuffing line mostly.

Exactly the same stuffing went into Sainsbury's, Tesco and A N Other (can''t remember which) packaging.

But not M&S, standards at Parrs weren't good enough.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 27 May, 2020, 02:48:24 pm
I've just discovered a game about being hungry.
https://freerice.com/categories/english-vocabulary

And some gumpf about it:
https://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp285076.pdf
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 27 May, 2020, 03:04:00 pm
Yeah, most choice is in fact 'faux choice.' I read an article years ago about the fact that so many of these different brands were basically all made in the same factories with minimal recipe/industrial process changes. The vaunted choice of the local giant supermarket is actually not that much more than a modest high street shop. The shelf space in a bigger store is taken up with brands of the same products. We're just buying our favourite packaging.

I'm in this business.
Sometimes, you're buying exactly the same. Tesco Wine Route = Isla Negra.
If there's a recipe, you're not. 'Brand' recipes are licensed. They're made in the same factory, but the recipe is different. If there is any way to make it cheaper, it will be. Even the difference between Haywards Pickled Onions and Morrison's pickled onions. The spec for the onions is wider, the recipe is cheaper (more syrup, less sugar, more water, less vinegar) and the spice mix is much cheaper- usually through flavour chemicals rather than actual spices. All the packaging is cheaper, cheaper glass, cheaper (less branding) closures, fewer colours in the labels, more generic cases.
Don't get me wrong, I'm always pushing Mr Smith to buy Malt Wheats rather than Shreddies, but I'm not kidding myself they are the same. They very rarely are, as soon as there's any processing. I have no idea why anyone buys Bero flour, though.

my wife actually prefers the own brand Waitrose chocolate digestives to the McVities, I have no idea if they are actually different or not, and don't eat enough of them to care.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 27 May, 2020, 03:32:18 pm
Lots of stuff nearly the same in a supermarket.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uexC5wK9rM
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jurek on 27 May, 2020, 03:50:05 pm
Lots of stuff nearly the same in a supermarket.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uexC5wK9rM
;D
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 27 May, 2020, 04:01:03 pm
This reminds me of the day I compared the ingredients and traffic lights on a tine of Morrisons "Reduced Salt" Baked beans with a tin of normal Heinz.
It should be no surprise that the Morrisons Beans had twice as much salt in it as the Heinz.

When I was a penniless student oaf, I wrote a feature for the rag comparing the price of a standard shopping basket in the local emporia. Back in those days, one of the favourites was Giant in Kirkstall - a proper pile-it-high-sell-it-cheap place. They sold tins of tomato soup for something like 6p, which was cheap even in the early 90s. Of course, if you took the trouble to investigate the ingredients list, you would see that its tomato content was precisely fuck all.

Some brands really are worth paying more for. My wife complains when I buy Plenty kitchen paper because of the price but I keep telling her the cheap stuff she gets from Aldi is shit and you need a whole roll to wipe up the tiniest spillage.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 27 May, 2020, 04:04:00 pm
Hadn't heard of Bero flour.

The mere mention of Bero gives me a Proustian moment. We had a Bero cookbook when I was a kid, which contained the best ever chocolate cake recipe - it was my signature dish for many years.

I found the recipe on the internet a while ago and tried making it again for nostalgia's sake. My god! It was awful... unbearably sweet.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: andyoxon on 27 May, 2020, 04:33:22 pm
Went to Tesco for the first time in 6-8weeks; ~1pm.  Queued for ~30mins to get in.   All pretty good, though no lemons at all, and 1 bag of any flour type left; organic spelt, which I nabbed.  Apparently flour delivery everyday, and people limited to three bags.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 27 May, 2020, 09:38:24 pm
I'm in this business.
Sometimes, you're buying exactly the same. Tesco Wine Route = Isla Negra.
If there's a recipe, you're not. 'Brand' recipes are licensed. They're made in the same factory, but the recipe is different. If there is any way to make it cheaper, it will be. Even the difference between Haywards Pickled Onions and Morrison's pickled onions. The spec for the onions is wider, the recipe is cheaper (more syrup, less sugar, more water, less vinegar) and the spice mix is much cheaper- usually through flavour chemicals rather than actual spices. All the packaging is cheaper, cheaper glass, cheaper (less branding) closures, fewer colours in the labels, more generic cases.
Don't get me wrong, I'm always pushing Mr Smith to buy Malt Wheats rather than Shreddies, but I'm not kidding myself they are the same. They very rarely are, as soon as there's any processing. I have no idea why anyone buys Bero flour, though.

You soon learn this when you start having to check ingredients for allergy/intolerance/veganism reasons.  Own brands, in particular, are notorious for sneaking whey powder into things without any obvious sign that the recipe may have changed.

I've been reading a lot of ingredients lists since the Mad Buying Crisis (at arms length, because I'm wearing riding-to-the-shop-and-spotting-things-on-shelves glasses and trying not to touch my face), as the usual brands aren't always available.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 27 May, 2020, 09:47:51 pm
I've been reading a lot of ingredients lists since the Mad Buying Crisis (at arms length, because I'm wearing riding-to-the-shop-and-spotting-things-on-shelves glasses and trying not to touch my face), as the usual brands aren't always available.
U NEED BIFOCALS

Or else one of these t-shirts:
(https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/05/27/09/28874370-8360815-image-a-13_1590568998735.jpg)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 28 May, 2020, 07:47:05 am
Anti 5G device anyone, "provides protection for your home and family, thanks to the wearable holographic nano-layer catalyser, which can be worn or placed near to a smartphone or any other electrical, radiation or EMF [electromagnetic field] emitting device".

"Through a process of quantum oscillation, the 5GBioShield USB key balances and re-harmonises the disturbing frequencies arising from the electric fog induced by devices, such as laptops, cordless phones, wi-fi, tablets, et cetera,"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52810220 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52810220)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: andytheflyer on 28 May, 2020, 08:20:42 am
Anti 5G device anyone, ............."Through a process of quantum oscillation, the 5GBioShield USB key balances and re-harmonises the disturbing frequencies arising from the electric fog induced by devices, such as laptops, cordless phones, wi-fi, tablets, et cetera,"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52810220 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52810220)
Snake oil.........
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: De Sisti on 28 May, 2020, 08:28:43 am
Ants in the house and can't find the nest.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 28 May, 2020, 08:30:53 am
Ants in the house and can't find the nest.

You probably need a 5GBioShield device, the ants are controlled by it, don't you know.  George Soros wants us to buy more sugar so he's sending them out to eat our stocks
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 28 May, 2020, 09:24:23 am
I'm sure there's some sort of ant poison you can buy to mix with sugar, the ants carry it back to the nest for you. But I can't think what it actually is, sorry.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 28 May, 2020, 09:25:12 am
Anti 5G device anyone, "provides protection for your home and family, thanks to the wearable holographic nano-layer catalyser, which can be worn or placed near to a smartphone or any other electrical, radiation or EMF [electromagnetic field] emitting device".

"Through a process of quantum oscillation, the 5GBioShield USB key balances and re-harmonises the disturbing frequencies arising from the electric fog induced by devices, such as laptops, cordless phones, wi-fi, tablets, et cetera,"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52810220 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52810220)
Written by a graduate of the school of sci-fi writing for the under-tens.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 28 May, 2020, 09:38:58 am
Ants in the house and can't find the nest.

That's odd - ants usually have such a good homing instinct.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Ham on 28 May, 2020, 09:53:30 am
There you go, that's the effect of the 5g there and then.

And the website itself is a thing of.... beauty? Good for a laugh anyhow, follow at your own discretion http://5gbioshield.com
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 28 May, 2020, 09:58:18 am
Hmm, it doesn’t deal with 1G...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 28 May, 2020, 09:59:15 am
Hmm, it doesn’t deal with 1G...
Hasn't got its feet on the ground?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: neilrj on 28 May, 2020, 09:59:42 am
Anti 5G device anyone, "provides protection for your home and family, thanks to the wearable holographic nano-layer catalyser, which can be worn or placed near to a smartphone or any other electrical, radiation or EMF [electromagnetic field] emitting device".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52810220 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52810220)

I hope it's well tuned or the Ley Lines around Glasto could cease to be!
If it wipes them out too the world will end surely!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: De Sisti on 28 May, 2020, 10:36:23 am
Ants in the house and can't find the nest.

That's odd - ants usually have such a good homing instinct.
I can't find the nest in order to destroy it. >:(
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: fuzzy on 28 May, 2020, 11:26:45 am
Ants in the house and can't find the nest.

That's odd - ants usually have such a good homing instinct.
I can't find the nest in order to destroy it. >:(
Be carefulk what you wish for-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd_fu_8cCOo
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 28 May, 2020, 01:22:26 pm
Ants in the house and can't find the nest.

That's odd - ants usually have such a good homing instinct.
I can't find the nest in order to destroy it. >:(

You don't need to, just use some of these or similar. Worked for us.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stop-Bait-Station-Defence-Stopper/dp/B01BJVDH3K
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: spesh on 28 May, 2020, 05:35:49 pm
Ants in the house and can't find the nest.

That's odd - ants usually have such a good homing instinct.
I can't find the nest in order to destroy it. >:(
Be carefulk what you wish for-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd_fu_8cCOo

 ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Redlight on 28 May, 2020, 05:55:03 pm
There you go, that's the effect of the 5g there and then.

And the website itself is a thing of.... beauty? Good for a laugh anyhow, follow at your own discretion http://5gbioshield.com

Anyone want to take a bet on how many days it will take for Trump to recommend using one of these to keep the ChinaVirus Rays at bay?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: TheLurker on 28 May, 2020, 06:54:22 pm
Quote from: ElyDave
...a process of quantum oscillation, the 5GBioShield USB key balances and re-harmonises the disturbing frequencies arising from the electric fog induced by devices, such as laptops, cordless phones, wi-fi, tablets, et cetera,"
Is that from an advertisement or an out-take from one of the hippy-dippier episodes of Star Trek TNG?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 28 May, 2020, 07:15:59 pm
Ants in the house and can't find the nest.

That's odd - ants usually have such a good homing instinct.
I can't find the nest in order to destroy it. >:(
Be carefulk what you wish for-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd_fu_8cCOo

And what's his moniker on here?  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 28 May, 2020, 08:42:15 pm
Quote from: ElyDave
...a process of quantum oscillation, the 5GBioShield USB key balances and re-harmonises the disturbing frequencies arising from the electric fog induced by devices, such as laptops, cordless phones, wi-fi, tablets, et cetera,"
Is that from an advertisement or an out-take from one of the hippy-dippier episodes of Star Trek TNG?

TBH, that's more hi-fi magazine than Star Trek.  TNG would attempt to eradicate electric fog by re-routing main power through the deflector array, before realising that it was actually an intelligent being of pure 5G energy and offering it quantum hugs (at which point it would quietly slink off to the next dimension to get away from the space-hippies).
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 28 May, 2020, 10:54:52 pm
Are quantum hugs the same as lockdown hugs?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 29 May, 2020, 12:23:43 pm
I've never understood why the phrase "quantum leap" has come to mean something very very big when quantum phenomena are both small and (at least when TV SCIENCE types start failing to explain them) far away.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 29 May, 2020, 12:33:57 pm
I've never understood why the phrase "quantum leap" has come to mean something very very big when quantum phenomena are both small and (at least when TV SCIENCE types start failing to explain them) far away.

Because to people of a certain age, the phrase "quantum leap" makes them think of Scott Bakula in his pyjamas, not LEDs and such.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 29 May, 2020, 12:50:24 pm
TBH, that's more hi-fi magazine than Star Trek.  TNG would attempt to eradicate electric fog by re-routing main power through the deflector array, before realising that it was actually an intelligent being of pure 5G energy and offering it quantum hugs (at which point it would quietly slink off to the next dimension to get away from the space-hippies).

Hifi woo, esp with things like the €500 hifi quality ethernet cables, reminds me of this adaptor that went past on twitter yesterday.

For when you need to convert from Compressed air to balanced stereo audio...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EY4OIWQUEAUv3Lr?format=jpg&name=large)

J
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Zipperhead on 29 May, 2020, 03:19:08 pm
yes but obviously with that connector the compressed air is mono. But not the oxygen free variety as used for greatest fidelity.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 29 May, 2020, 03:31:46 pm
Hopefully you can get a silvered upgrade?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 29 May, 2020, 03:34:24 pm
Bzzzzt: geek alert! It can be balanced or stereo but not both at the same time. The XLR plug would normally carry positive signal, phase reversed signal and earth, hence the name balanced. It could carry left, right and ground, which would be stereo, but not normally as TRS jacks tend to be the plug of choice for that.

<end of geek alert>

And this is why I am not an audio engineer.

Thank you!

J
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Tim Hall on 29 May, 2020, 03:44:44 pm
I've never understood why the phrase "quantum leap" has come to mean something very very big when quantum phenomena are both small and (at least when TV SCIENCE types start failing to explain them) far away.

Because to people of a certain age, the phrase "quantum leap" makes them think of Scott Bakula in his pyjamas, not LEDs and such.
Oh boy.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 30 May, 2020, 01:55:27 pm
As of Thursday we have new neighbours. After 20 years of a childless couple, the last 10 just the widow, who barely left the house, we now have a Family of 4, the 2 kids being (at a guess) a year 11 boy and year 10 girl.

Since they moved in a set of grandparents have been there 2 days.  Today we have 4 additional year 10 girls for what seems to be (judging by the goodie bags) a birthday party.  Isolation and social distancing - that’s for others obvs. Still it isn’t too noisy and the music’s been kept down. Oh, and the Sky van has turned up.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 01 June, 2020, 10:13:29 am
Remember how in the 60s the standard UK roadsign for a nationally-recognized beauty spot was an old mattress in the ditch?  Back here, the rubbish tips - sorry, recycling centres - were closed during lockdown.  Now that they're open again the queues are long, so a lot of nasty bastards are using the forests instead.

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: madcow on 01 June, 2020, 11:44:47 am
Twitter and FB is full of examples of people leaving litter all over the place.
Often, but not exclusively , features younger generation with alcohol and nitrous oxide canisters.
Seems to be two factions , those who want to save the planet and those who don't give a sh1t.
As there's no shopping or sport to go to , they have all suddenly discovered the countryside.
Right to roam or even drive in some cases, walk their dogs,  , picnic, camp  , defecate etc. seems to becoming an assumed right.
From sending out drones at the start of the lockdown, police seem to have given up.

Fly tipping at the moments seems to be the small scale stuff from households because industry is only working at half cock anyway.
Other place to dump rubbish locally is  the dooorway of the local Oxfam shop, even though they have put notices in all the windows asking people to desist.
I don't know if it's coincidence or something done by Oxfam or the local council but there is now a skip in situ.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 01 June, 2020, 11:57:17 am
Remember how in the 60s the standard UK roadsign for a nationally-recognized beauty spot was an old mattress in the ditch?  Back here, the rubbish tips - sorry, recycling centres - were closed during lockdown.  Now that they're open again the queues are long, so a lot of nasty bastards are using the forests instead.

Here in sunny E17 the mattresses are just dumped on the streets and left to fend for themselves.  It's heartbreaking.

Note to self: turn "Mattresses of Walthamstow" calendar to June.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 01 June, 2020, 12:01:53 pm
Given all the fast-food franchises now appear open, so is littering season. I wasn't missing the piles of McDonalds and KFC detritus. I've never really understood where the McD's stuff comes from (McDonalds, ian, McDonalds!) – no, I mean, the nearest McDs is miles away. I guess people buy it, drive several miles, and then eat it here and tip the waste out of the car window. Or they eat it there, drive all the way home, and then tip it ought of the window. Also, out in the country, a mile or so from anywhere, and you'll find the remains of an McD meal.

I did recover a Pret hot drink container from the garden yesterday. Again, the nearest Pret is in Croydon and posher than the average litterer, but that's seven-ish miles away.

Fly-tipping is sadly a regular interruption on our walks. Often off main roads, but again, sometimes people have driven quite a way down bumpy lanes to dump a fridge. Surely more effort than getting rid of properly. There was one of 'licensed' waste disposal vans in front of me the other day, one flat rear tire flobbling along, and the delicate waft of freon in its wake. I don't have much faith that won't end up blocking some country lane.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: The Family Cyclist on 01 June, 2020, 01:21:47 pm
There is loads of litter out at the moment. Normally I'd go pick it up as a member of the local wombles group but under the current circumstances I'm a bit reluctant to pick up other people's rubbish even if using a picker and disposable gloves
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 01 June, 2020, 02:35:27 pm
Given all the fast-food franchises now appear open, so is littering season. I wasn't missing the piles of McDonalds and KFC detritus. I've never really understood where the McD's stuff comes from (McDonalds, ian, McDonalds!) – no, I mean, the nearest McDs is miles away. I guess people buy it, drive several miles, and then eat it here and tip the waste out of the car window. Or they eat it there, drive all the way home, and then tip it ought of the window. Also, out in the country, a mile or so from anywhere, and you'll find the remains of an McD meal.

Quaint, genteel Whitstable has mostly resisted the fast food chains so far - in the town centre, at least. There's long been a McD's on the outskirts of town. Then a few years ago, a KFC opened next to the McD's.

I saw the first KFC litter on Whitstable high street the morning after it opened.  >:(
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 01 June, 2020, 03:11:55 pm
The KFC I understand, at least there's one in town, and you can calculate it's precise location using the litter radius and the time it takes to drop the greasy packaging and finally, the point where they bore of drinking the giant cup of sugary water and decide to leave it perched on a garden wall.

There's no McD even close, but it's a consistent source of litter on local roads.

Personally, I'd make the vendor liable for the clean-up, but I guess holding them responsible for the effects of output is just so unreasonable and they should simply be allowed to make their profits while the rest of us pay to clean up the mess (and for the health costs).

The other major source of litter is the school kids, they steam through chucking out a steady stream of Capri Sun pouches, chocolate wrappers, and crisp packets twice a day, so their absence has been nice.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Regulator on 01 June, 2020, 03:43:51 pm
The KFC I understand, at least there's one in town, and you can calculate it's precise location using the litter radius and the time it takes to drop the greasy packaging and finally, the point where they bore of drinking the giant cup of sugary water and decide to leave it perched on a garden wall.

There's no McD even close, but it's a consistent source of litter on local roads.

Personally, I'd make the vendor liable for the clean-up, but I guess holding them responsible for the effects of output is just so unreasonable and they should simply be allowed to make their profits while the rest of us pay to clean up the mess (and for the health costs).

The other major source of litter is the school kids, they steam through chucking out a steady stream of Capri Sun pouches, chocolate wrappers, and crisp packets twice a day, so their absence has been nice.

There is often a 'clean up' requirement imposed when fast food restaurants/drive throughs are opened.  Problem is when they're on the border of jurisdictions...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 01 June, 2020, 03:44:08 pm
McD's stuff is usually chucked away piecemeal. Pics I've seen of stuff dumped in the forest show more like a car-trailerful at a time.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 01 June, 2020, 03:48:51 pm
They could ask for ID and dot matrix print the post code of the buyer on the packaging.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 01 June, 2020, 03:56:59 pm
The KFC I understand, at least there's one in town, and you can calculate it's precise location using the litter radius and the time it takes to drop the greasy packaging and finally, the point where they bore of drinking the giant cup of sugary water and decide to leave it perched on a garden wall.

There's no McD even close, but it's a consistent source of litter on local roads.

Personally, I'd make the vendor liable for the clean-up, but I guess holding them responsible for the effects of output is just so unreasonable and they should simply be allowed to make their profits while the rest of us pay to clean up the mess (and for the health costs).

The other major source of litter is the school kids, they steam through chucking out a steady stream of Capri Sun pouches, chocolate wrappers, and crisp packets twice a day, so their absence has been nice.

There is often a 'clean up' requirement imposed when fast food restaurants/drive throughs are opened.  Problem is when they're on the border of jurisdictions...

The council is just wishy-washy on everything. Same with the local school, the littering is of course, of concern, and they care a lot, but they don't commit to anything. Write to the council, well, of course, it's a concern, and they care a lot, but you know, well.

In Croydon, we had street wardens etc. Stuff would get done fairly promptly. Here? I think it's the lassitude from knowing that nothing in Surrey will change, so why bother potentially upsetting anyone.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: neilrj on 01 June, 2020, 05:44:07 pm
They could ask for ID and dot matrix print the post code of the buyer on the packaging.

Or have a hidden pre printed code that is tied to the payment card?
But introduce take away T&C's that say it's £50 for every single wrapper found in the wild.
Fine shared with local council (for litter collection), NHS for health effects, and finally the exchequer as a way of recovering the avoided taxes by multi-national scumbags.

Or have a deposit scheme that the fast food firm has to administer.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 01 June, 2020, 07:02:21 pm
They could serve food on plates, with a knife and fork...

Anyway, in lockdown news, the cars are back.  Properly this time.

Saw a couple of kids in school uniform, too.  Poor sods.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 01 June, 2020, 07:13:51 pm
Plates? It'll never catch on. Maybe old pieces of school blackboard with GCSE chalk dust, or artisan mill stones, broken window panes, something like that...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 01 June, 2020, 07:16:50 pm
Plates? It'll never catch on. Maybe old pieces of school blackboard with GCSE chalk dust, or artisan mill stones, broken window panes, something like that...

All far too hygienic

Maybe try bed pans, or shoes or... just look at @wewantplates on twitter for the horrors out there...

J
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 01 June, 2020, 07:21:53 pm
My tour operator has cancelled my holiday in Italy  :thumbsup:

They offered a refund but I think I'll rebook for 2021.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Tim Hall on 01 June, 2020, 09:43:31 pm
Plates? It'll never catch on. Maybe old pieces of school blackboard with GCSE chalk dust, or artisan mill stones, broken window panes, something like that...

All far too hygienic

Maybe try bed pans, or shoes or... just look at @wewantplates on twitter for the horrors out there...

J
John Finnemore has something to say on the matter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX4KuEAYIYY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX4KuEAYIYY)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: fuzzy on 01 June, 2020, 10:59:45 pm
Some people are getting too much sunbathing time but paying too little attention to detail.
Yersterday in thr queueueueueue for a national chain of home improvement detritus, a senior gent was standing 4 or 5 2 meter zones behind me. He was wearing an open button up shirt displaying his magnidicent tan- and his moob anti shadow.
A man more in need of weighted nipple clamps I have never seen. Apply clamps and throw the weights over the shoulder to expose the untanned flesh.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Regulator on 02 June, 2020, 09:40:14 am
Our post has got very odd in the last couple of months...  We normally get a delivery about 2.00 pm (we've not had a morning delivery for several years) but that's got pushed back during lockdown...

.. but yesterday was something else.  Our postman delivered at 8.15 p.m
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 02 June, 2020, 10:05:05 am
Just been to Mr Sainsbury's House Of Toothy Comestibles.  No queueueueue.  Amazeballs!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Basil on 04 June, 2020, 01:48:10 pm
Our first trip out to the beach today.  Chose a remote one that has no village or buildings of any type nearby.  (Penbryn)
Fantastic!  We were completely alone on a huge long beach. The dog was ecstatic.
A bit further than the Welsh 5 mile limit, but the govt did suggest that this could be extended in rural areas.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 05 June, 2020, 09:41:27 pm
My colleague Martin has an interest in vintage clothing, which one way or another has led to him selling rather natty handmade face masks on Etsy.

As of today, he is my ex-colleague, and will now be focusing on the clothing business full time.

Following the news that we will be legally required to wear face masks on public transport, I shall be putting some business his way before the office re-opens...

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SidewinderApparel
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 08 June, 2020, 10:03:21 am
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/jun/08/wilko-johnson-musician-on-life-in-lockdown-i-feel-grateful-to-be-alive

Wilko may be pleased to learn that his local, the Railway Hotel in Southend, is serving their famous vegan food via Deliveroo. We had some on Friday. It seems the vegan "fish" has banana blossom as one of its ingredients. It's the first time I had it. To be honest I will get the real thing rom the chip shop across the road next time, despite the fact that the Railway is run by friends of ours. Preferable, and half the price, and I can walk across the road to get it. The chips from the Railway were superb though.

Of course, there are other choices from the Railway and their vegan pizzas are very good.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 24 June, 2020, 03:15:17 pm
The scene: Company results thing, talking about "restructuring" and reduced costs.
Boss 1: We've lost a few people through Covid.
Boss 2: In terms of them not being here, not through them being dead.
It's NZ, so the sensitivities are different, apart from anything else.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: grams on 07 July, 2020, 12:12:06 pm
Walking the dog on a typical width pavement with typical wall of parked cars. Old lady coming towards me. I move all the way over towards the houses so we can pass with a good meter between us. She steps off the pavement between parked cars and stands in the road staring at me, and witheringly says "Good Morning" to me as I pass.

Am I The Arsehole?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 07 July, 2020, 02:03:28 pm
Nope, some people just can’t judge distances very well. The queue for our local M&S seems to have anything from 2 to 4 m between people. Is she’s that concerned she could have crossed the road - or as she did, make her own space.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 07 July, 2020, 02:09:05 pm
I'm fairly sure it's Bloody Stupid Johnson that's the arsehole, and she was ignoring the profit-over-safety revised 1m rule for the mutual benefit of your health.

Or she doesn't like dogs.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 07 July, 2020, 02:23:14 pm
Walking the dog on a typical width pavement with typical wall of parked cars. Old lady coming towards me. I move all the way over towards the houses so we can pass with a good meter between us. She steps off the pavement between parked cars and stands in the road staring at me, and witheringly says "Good Morning" to me as I pass.

Am I The Arsehole?

I have stepped aside to let people pass on occasions but I have never mastered the art of wishing them a 'witheringly good morning'!  I shall have to practice  ;)

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: grams on 07 July, 2020, 02:51:14 pm
I'm fairly sure it's Bloody Stupid Johnson that's the arsehole, and she was ignoring the profit-over-safety revised 1m rule for the mutual benefit of your health.

Yeah. I seem to have encountered the last person in the country sticking to the 2m rule.

I bought an ice cream from a van* yesterday. The serving hatch had plastic over all but the bottom 12 inches. He stopped right down so he could talk to me through it, face inches from mine.

(* an ice cream van, not some dodgy WVM at a motorway services selling the bootleg stuff)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 09 July, 2020, 07:51:23 pm
We had our quarterly company meeting today, at which it was revealed that we won't be going back to the office before September at the earliest. And when we do go back, it will be four days a week (office closed Fridays), with reduced office capacity meaning teams will be on rotation - though not sure if that will mean week on/week off, two weeks on/one week off, or whatever... I guess it depends on how they break down the numbers.

It's all so strange. Part of the reason I took my current job after four years WFH was the opportunity to go back to working in an office, with daily contact with other human beings, which is good for the sanity and good for being able to get the job done. I even kind of miss the commute for the routine it brought to my daily life - although I don't really miss other aspects of it, like the timesink, the cost, the sheer pain of being a customer of southeastern railway...

I'm also relieved that I still have a job, considering the economic catastrophe that is unfolding around us all - and since on a purely statistical basis it seems likely that some of my fellow yacfers are among those losing their jobs, I sincerely hope you're all coping with the situation, however it is affecting you.

I guess this is what they call the New Normal.

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Ian H on 09 July, 2020, 08:28:33 pm
Exciting times! 

Haircut on Tuesday, the barber wearing a visor tilted-up just enough to he could peer under it. 

Proper pub-run to a proper pub yesterday evening.  John the publican brought out some 'special' local cider, which meant that three of our number were more than usually mellow by home-time.

Neighbours invited for tea & cake in the garden tomorrow.

And then for contrast:  my first socially-distanced funeral on Monday.  But we have negotiated a traditional wheel-arch outside the crematorium.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: hatler on 09 July, 2020, 08:50:46 pm
We too have been told that we will absolutely not be back to the office until September at the very earliest.

It's open plan and fit for about 150. Things have been going well and we were up to about 220 by the beginning of March. We will not all be back in together that's for sure. I do miss the cycle there and back. Days at home are pretty formulaic and I also miss the meeting people thing.

On the plus side, I can do my job from anywhere that has an internet connection and I've lucked out by happening to be employed by a software house whose principal platform's primary use-case is organisational planning, and there's quite a call for that at the moment. Very conscious however that we are probably not even half way in to one of the biggest challenges this country's faced in my lifetime, and there's going to be way more casualties yet.

A million tail-spinning poop-spreading hippopotamuses won't come close to this shitshow.

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 09 July, 2020, 09:21:30 pm
Our mothership have mooted 18th August, but as optional. Doesn't bother me as I can (and mostly do) work from home. But am missing much of the in-person stuff, especially with customers etc. I could happy not have another bloody Teams call ever.

I do also miss the summer-evening long Brompton-powered ambles home.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: andyoxon on 10 July, 2020, 11:53:44 am
Visiting Scarborough to see  family.  Fish and chips ordered on phone, went to pickup at alloted time, and hung around on pavement  for about 25mins waiting for number to be called.  Person lining boxes with paper inserts also appeared to be handling money.  Got back and found they'd not given me any chips, despite definitely ordering them.  Hotel breakfast including bacon roll, inna paper bag with other wrapped sweet stuff, again 30 mins post requested time.  Coffee machine ran out, and  looked like people where having double volumes.  Paper cup stacks were being handled by people as they were 'stuck' together.  Nice evening bike ride though.  👍
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: TheLurker on 10 July, 2020, 02:51:56 pm
Quote from: citoyen
.... opportunity to go back to working in an office, with daily contact with other human beings, which is good for the sanity and good for being able to get the job done.

Whereas I for one* will only be prised from my study and back into a communal office with crowbars and dynamite.  I've  been working mostly from home this past 8 or 9 years.  Love it.  No interruptions from the tin-foil hat brigade,  a marked reduction in stupid bloody meetings** and anyway contact with other human beings is vastly, vastly overrated.

*Nattering with colleagues on the 'phone and I'm not alone in this view.  Of course it may be because we're all jaded old*** programmers with all the social skills of a dead badger.

** And what meetings there are are telephone meetings so one can stare out of the window.  "Hullo birds, hullo sky sa fotherington-tomas."

*** Only one of us under 40 and several of us are a damn sight nearer 60 than 50.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 10 July, 2020, 03:18:45 pm
I used to work from home all the time (as I was, once upon a time, singularly the entire UK, European, and rest of the world branch of a US company). About a year back I started doing a couple of days in the office, which I don't mind, I do like the social contact. Obviously, I had to be hosed down, disinfected and had to relearn key social skills. It helps that we're not, at the people level, a very corporate company rather than a 9-5 shirt and tie business, which I'd avoid like the plague. Even the old people are young and no one minds if you use the collaboration spaces for long naps.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 10 July, 2020, 05:41:57 pm
I'm also not missing the office. There's a couple of people I miss seeing but it's a big open plan office with a couple of people in the middle of it who have no concept of how to moderate the volume of one's voice so as not to disturb others drive others round the bend with their constant gassing. I'm not missing that at all.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: pcolbeck on 10 July, 2020, 10:04:58 pm
First pint tonight since lock down began. Sat outside the village pub with the dog and a pint whilst waiting for a takeaway. The pub only opened yesterday, they gave mad Saturday a miss.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 11 July, 2020, 10:43:52 am
Since lockdown we have started getting emails telling us accounts on Amazon and Paypal have been locked.  All is not lost though, they give us a handy link to click so we can log on to those sites and retrieve the situation.  They must have us confused with someone else though as it is an email address we use for junky sort of stuff.  e.g. surveys by Fair fuel UK.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 11 July, 2020, 01:19:56 pm
I've had a few of those in the last couple of days from PayPal, or rather from an address like "aqtvunevkv6u1we-ad8dmq4srndo0vve@pmwplzon-44732691.design". Which I'm sure is absolutely exactly utterly completely and totally the address PayPal use.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Greenbank on 11 July, 2020, 03:14:24 pm
Sadly enough people fall for those scams to make it worthwhile for people to keep doing them.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 13 July, 2020, 09:10:03 am
Well that's us finally being recalled to the office/factory - though to be honest I think >70% of staff have been in throughout. We're all to be in by August 3rd, but I'm going in Friday to get my desk set up again, ready for a Monday start.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: fuzzy on 14 July, 2020, 10:53:20 pm
Mrs F learned today thet the way things have worked out during lockdown has peruaded her employer that they don't need her building. It is to close.

She is awaiting a one to one consultation to find out how it is going to affect her.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: aidan.f on 14 July, 2020, 11:17:38 pm
Reading today how working from home increases productivity but causes stress and depression. Have done it for far too long now... nearly 5 years. Employers are carrying out a big eXperiment - but without the science..
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/jul/14/end-of-the-office-the-quiet-grinding-loneliness-of-working-from-home (https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/jul/14/end-of-the-office-the-quiet-grinding-loneliness-of-working-from-home)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: TheLurker on 15 July, 2020, 06:11:05 am
Quote from: aidan.f
...how working from home increases productivity but causes stress and depression.
Depends on the job and how productivity is measured. If you're treated like a meatsack automaton then it's not at all surprising.  You get the same results in "traditional" workplaces that have intrusive micro-monitoring of employee activity.

I find, and always have found, working from home less stressful and not at all depressing, quite the reverse, but I'm paid to deliver stuff to a deadline and they don't count my keystrokes so if I spend 10 minutes staring vacantly into space it really doesn't matter.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 15 July, 2020, 09:03:03 am
Well, as it turns out today is my first day back in the office "properly", as opposed to the odd visit.  The first email I read is from our MD asking about voluntary redundancy.... :-\

I've only been here a year so not for me. Plus, this being a Japanese owned company generally compulsory redundancy isn't their way, they just second you to our Derby office until you quit!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 15 July, 2020, 09:39:03 am
Quote from: aidan.f
...how working from home increases productivity but causes stress and depression.
Depends on the job and how productivity is measured. If you're treated like a meatsack automaton then it's not at all surprising.  You get the same results in "traditional" workplaces that have intrusive micro-monitoring of employee activity.

I find, and always have found, working from home less stressful and not at all depressing, quite the reverse, but I'm paid to deliver stuff to a deadline and they don't count my keystrokes so if I spend 10 minutes staring vacantly into space it really doesn't matter.

There's a balance, I didn't find it awful after years at home to have the opportunity to interact with creatures that weren't cats. But equally, I used to travel a lot and I don't have a 9-5 job, even if I'm in the office, there's no worry about turning up at 11.30 and leaving whenever.

It's probably a lot different if you're 9-5 and micromanaged. That can go either way, for some its liberating, but for others, they just drift. I've managed minions who frankly only did things if you told them precisely what and when you expected it, they would have sat there all day otherwise.

Generally, if you're up for it, working from home should be more productive (and most people put in more hours when their day isn't book-ended by a start and finish time).

It also helps if you're somewhere to work, I know several people who have been working in small flats with partners and kids and they must be getting a little frayed by now.

The mothership is now sending me about eight online diversity modules every day. I may as well stop work and explore my inner biases.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 15 July, 2020, 10:16:27 am
It also helps if you're somewhere to work, I know several people who have been working in small flats with partners and kids and they must be getting a little frayed by now.

I'm very lucky in this respect - I've set up my office in the granny annexe, formerly occupied by my late mother-in-law, with a view over fields and forests.

M'colleague is working on his kitchen table in a flat with a brand-new baby in the house. Ouch.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 15 July, 2020, 10:38:58 am
I don't envy some, friends of ours recently bought a flat in that development by Catford station. It's a bit compact, mooted I, trying not to tarnish their enthusiasm for their new abode. I think they're finding that out first hand now.

Some other friends are floundering because they hoped to have moved into an actual house with rooms from their small Croydon abode, but it's been stuck for months as solicitors argue about a single missing building control permit.

My wife works at the other end of the house. She can lean out the window and shout messages if I have my office patio doors open.

I confess, I'm looking forward to a weekend on my own again. To do man stuff, like eat an entire block of cheese while I'm wearing just my underpants.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: SteveC on 15 July, 2020, 05:58:27 pm
Our mothership have announced no return to 'normal' working this year.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: L CC on 15 July, 2020, 10:53:37 pm
We've had a H&S assessment and it has been Decreed the office isn't big enough for all the people who work in it.
Which leaves me WFH until the new building is completed. Another couple of months and I'll be in for half days and meetings I reckon.
Mr Smith likes working from home. I'm not sure I do- I miss people, and find it boring. He doesn't seem to.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: fuzzy on 15 July, 2020, 11:06:07 pm
One of the managers responsible for a department that operates from Mrs F's soon to close office is a bit panicked by the decision.
Said manager is weak and has been allowing those that wanted to to work from home for years. They even let one worker, based in an office just outside High Wycombe in Bucks, to move to Sussex to better appreciate the working from home.
Apparently Sussex to Hungerford a few times a week, where lots of the displaced colleagues will have to work a few time a week, is a bit of a drag.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Ashaman42 on 16 July, 2020, 12:46:31 am
I don't envy some, friends of ours recently bought a flat in that development by Catford station. It's a bit compact, mooted I, trying not to tarnish their enthusiasm for their new abode. I think they're finding that out first hand now.

Some other friends are floundering because they hoped to have moved into an actual house with rooms from their small Croydon abode, but it's been stuck for months as solicitors argue about a single missing building control permit.

My wife works at the other end of the house. She can lean out the window and shout messages if I have my office patio doors open.

I confess, I'm looking forward to a weekend on my own again. To do man stuff, like eat an entire block of cheese while I'm wearing just my underpants.
It's the summer of George!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Regulator on 16 July, 2020, 07:18:57 am
I have been classed as 'Covid vulnerable' so had to have an additional workplace assessment.  Nothing will change, as I work from home (and have done for the last 5+ years), can control my work environment, have reduced any travel to meetings/hospitals and have access to PPE if needed.

I did mention I fancied getting a sit/stand desk (to help improve my fitness).  Big Boss is going to have a word with Bigger Boss.   :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Paul on 16 July, 2020, 07:22:47 am
...they just second you to our Derby office until you quit!
I’ve been in Derby offices for the last 19 years. They’d have to come up with a new hell for me!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Regulator on 16 July, 2020, 09:20:17 am
...they just second you to our Derby office until you quit!
I’ve been in Derby offices for the last 19 years. They’d have to come up with a new hell for me!


You'll have to share an office with Mark Francois.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 16 July, 2020, 12:24:04 pm

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ec6NzvUXkAQ7xEp?format=jpg&name=large)

I like this idea...

J
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 17 July, 2020, 04:19:13 pm
Signs of normality returning;  As I’m back in the office full time I’ve been taking a slightly longer route (up and down a bit of bypass) on my drive to work, to help get the battery stop/start function back. Levels of traffic could be described as normal. Also, our builder neighbours wife’s Range Rover (used to do the twice daily 2 mile - if Im being generous - school run 3 times a week) hasn’t been seen for ages. It’s normally parked in front of their house (forcing the dustcart to drive over the opposite verge to get past it) because she’s incapable of parking in their drive without scraping one or other wing mirror. It’s been at th3 rear of their property with his other vans. It reappeared on the road Wednesday.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 19 July, 2020, 01:04:05 pm
Yet more normality. For the first time in months we’ve had half a dozen planes overhead on approach to Luton, with EasyJet, Ryanair, and WhizzAir all represented, although the latter have been operating pretty much throughout, bring in seasonal workers.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 19 July, 2020, 01:50:05 pm
I heard an aeroplane the day before yesterday, which reminded me I haven't heard any for months (apart from the copper chopper and air ambulance, of course). And none yesterday or today. So I checked. Yes, Bristol airport is open. Maybe it was just one or two particular routes I used to hear (and see) and those aren't running for some reason? Curious.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Pingu on 19 July, 2020, 07:04:55 pm
Sat at a coffee shop table with cake and drinks for the first time since March  🙀
Title: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 19 July, 2020, 07:14:47 pm
Just realised that yesterday was my first pub visit since March.

Well, I say pub... it’s the tap room aka the Cathedral (really just a large shed) of the local brewery, and there’s no sitting indoors - just order your drink by following the one-way system through the shed (in the front door, file past the bar, then out through the patio doors), then find a space anywhere in the massive field out back. They’ve been advertising it as Kent’s Biggest Beer Garden.

We hit the jackpot with the weather yesterday - perfect for sitting out with a pint of fresher-than-fresh beer. Today would have been a more miserable experience.

That was at the tail end of yesterday’s bike outing with my son. We did the “first coffee shop since March” thing last weekend when we celebrated the re-opening of a local cycling cafe (the Independent Pedaler nr Bridge) by riding out there for coffee and cake. Again, we were lucky with the weather and got to sit outside in deckchairs.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jurek on 19 July, 2020, 07:19:12 pm
Can't wait to get back to some of my favourite pretentious breakfast cafes - you know - Full Nelson Avocado served on Crutch Hold and Slam Sourdough.
I think it'll be a while....
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: tiermat on 19 July, 2020, 07:28:10 pm
I don't know, yet, when I will be back in the office. Having said that, though, my job and thus office location (or at least the hq) has.

From Edinburgh to Manama.

Might be a while before I need to go to the office...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: giropaul on 20 July, 2020, 08:39:58 am
My daughter works for a company that had worked closely with the workers to agree a way of working, especially using working from home more. There are two teams, men’s and women’s - before outrage it’s a clothing company and the ranges are different, and the two teams are never in the office together. Management meetings are on Zoom. Interestingly the company thinks this all might be a permanent way forward for employee well being.
There are temperature sensors entering and exiting offices.
All great so far then.
Daughter set off temperature sensor exiting the building 43 degrees! There’s a protocol about reporting etc. One part is to repeat the test. It turns out it was her coffee cup.
Of course, the incident had been automatically logged. Daughter had a snotty note from someone in HR asking for her details of the actions she had taken ( they hadn’t spotted the second passage test) . She replied that the source of the positive test had been destroyed.
Luckily the HR Director is her mate, and has a sense of humour.
More seriously though, it shows that thought through protocols and new ways of working can and do work.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: L CC on 20 July, 2020, 08:51:29 am
No2 Son's partner A works for a company of auditors. Apparently the home working has been so successful the company are moving out of their office space and relocating somewhere smaller, and indeed considering merely renting meeting space when required. This is all very well but it means that A is having to find somewhere in their shared house to actually do the work, not always straightforward.

I'm not convinced making all your social interactions virtual is necessarily very good for ones mental health. Typed comments are much easier to misconstrue; short bursts of video conferencing easier to fake anything. Isolation is not really very good for people.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 20 July, 2020, 08:58:48 am
No2 Son's partner A works for a company of auditors. Apparently the home working has been so successful the company are moving out of their office space and relocating somewhere smaller, and indeed considering merely renting meeting space when required. This is all very well but it means that A is having to find somewhere in their shared house to actually do the work, not always straightforward.

This is something I'm hearing a lot, the  "Hey, you know that expensive building we're not using at the moment, yet the business is functioning just fine? let's get rid of it!" thought process.

That's fine for management with their big homes with a dedicated home office. But for many of the younger generation who are living in HMO's, where their bedroom is barely big enough for a bed and a wardrobe. There's only so much space on the Kitchen table for them to work at, and it doesn't necessarily produce a good working environment.

More remote working can be a good thing, it can open up all sorts of opportunities etc..., *BUT* it has to be approached with care, consideration, and empathy.

I wonder how many companies, upon making their employees all work from home, will react with glee, when said employees put in expenses claims for travel to the office. If your home is your normal place of work any travel to another location is a legitimate expense. So it does at least shift the extortionate rail fare from employee to employer*. But I think that may surprise a few people.

Quote
I'm not convinced making all your social interactions virtual is necessarily very good for ones mental health. Typed comments are much easier to misconstrue; short bursts of video conferencing easier to fake anything. Isolation is not really very good for people.

There is also that. it's going to be years to fully appreciate the mental health implications of it all.

J


* As it should anyway, discovering in .NL that employers tend to pay your commuting costs, including €0.19/km to cycle, is a revelation!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rob on 20 July, 2020, 09:04:59 am
Changing jobs during lockdown is proving interesting.   I have really missed just walking round the office talking to people.  Since management have been pretty poor over the whole process quite a few of my friends that I have worked with on and off for nigh-on 20 years have no idea that I'm leaving.

At the end of August I will package my PC up and have it picked up and then wait for a new one to turn up.



Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 20 July, 2020, 10:53:36 am
This fits in with the broad pre-existing trends of outsourcing and subcontracting. Now the outsourcing is not from company to supplier but from employer to employee. Or you could look at the employee as being the employer's supplier, using their own facilities just as they would if the outsourcing were to a company.

One effect might be that if physical location is no longer important, management jobs can be offshored just as easily as manufacturing. Of course this goes in all directions: I'm currently here in the UK doing work sent me from Singapore, involving people in Jordan, Yemen and Kenya.

The other broad trend working from home accelerates is, obviously, the blurring of work/life boxes, both in time and space.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 22 July, 2020, 08:07:02 pm
Just realised that yesterday was my first pub visit since March.

Well, I say pub... it’s the tap room aka the Cathedral (really just a large shed) of the local brewery, and there’s no sitting indoors - just order your drink by following the one-way system through the shed (in the front door, file past the bar, then out through the patio doors), then find a space anywhere in the massive field out back. They’ve been advertising it as Kent’s Biggest Beer Garden.

We hit the jackpot with the weather yesterday - perfect for sitting out with a pint of fresher-than-fresh beer. Today would have been a more miserable experience.

That was at the tail end of yesterday’s bike outing with my son. We did the “first coffee shop since March” thing last weekend when we celebrated the re-opening of a local cycling cafe (the Independent Pedaler nr Bridge) by riding out there for coffee and cake. Again, we were lucky with the weather and got to sit outside in deckchairs.

On holiday this week, having swapped a week in Provence for Surrey, thus saving me having to drag out and beat my awful French for spectacle. We've been wandering around Kent and the Sussexes and popping into several pubs during our adventures, the clement weather making good of some spacious beer gardens (none of which have been super-crowded). Broke the drought with a couple of pints at The Sportsman in (the splendidly named) Mogador at the weekend. I always wanted to live in Mogador, but it's spoiled not by the sound of dragons, rather the nearby M25.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 22 July, 2020, 08:25:47 pm
This fits in with the broad pre-existing trends of outsourcing and subcontracting. Now the outsourcing is not from company to supplier but from employer to employee. Or you could look at the employee as being the employer's supplier, using their own facilities just as they would if the outsourcing were to a company.

One effect might be that if physical location is no longer important, management jobs can be offshored just as easily as manufacturing. Of course this goes in all directions: I'm currently here in the UK doing work sent me from Singapore, involving people in Jordan, Yemen and Kenya.

The other broad trend working from home accelerates is, obviously, the blurring of work/life boxes, both in time and space.

Oh yes! I've worked "from home" for the last 13 years, involving work from around the globe, much of it in the O&G industry. One of

Lots of old hands have thought "why do I need to live in the UK to work in the North Sea?" cue moves to spain etc, then moves to thailand etc.  In the good times, doing 2 on/2 off, or 4 on 4 off, no probs, but now?

Physical location may not have been important....
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: LittleWheelsandBig on 22 July, 2020, 08:52:53 pm
Oil and Gas. Lotsa money in good times but ruthless in bad.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Chris S on 22 July, 2020, 09:57:55 pm
... and right now, they're in ruthless mode.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Canardly on 23 July, 2020, 08:29:48 pm
The garden tap has been dripping for say errm 5 years or so. I fixed it with 150mm of rolled up PTFE around the spindle in the stuffing box. It took me at least five minutes.  :facepalm:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 23 July, 2020, 09:01:24 pm
A little list occurred to me of things I've fallen out of the habit of doing, or rather fallen into the habit of not doing, since lockdown:
Making bread
Drinking alcohol
Eating crisps, pizza and chips
Shopping in supermarkets bigger than the local Co-op
Using public transport

The decision to avoid trains and buses is a deliberate one, avoiding larger supermarkets is a sort of accidental habit with retrospective decision, but all the others just happened before I realised I hadn't done them for a long time. Perhaps no longer making bread is the odd one, as everyone else in the world seems to have started homebaking during lockdown, but I was the only one who ate it( ::-)) and we have two good bakeries very nearby at okay prices (as well as Hobbs, who sell artisanal single-field type bread at £4 a loaf).
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: TheLurker on 24 July, 2020, 08:28:24 am
Quote from: Canardly
The garden tap has been dripping for say errm 5 years or so.
If it's any consolation or makes you feel less guilty our garage door had been in need of stripping to the metal and repainting for at least as long, but as I couldn't find my blow-torch (in such a small garage!) it hadn't been done.  Finally bit the bullet and bought a new b-t Sat. last.  It has now been repainted.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 24 July, 2020, 11:12:04 am
Perhaps no longer making bread is the odd one, as everyone else in the world seems to have started homebaking during lockdown, but I was the only one who ate it( ::-)) and we have two good bakeries very nearby at okay prices (as well as Hobbs, who sell artisanal single-field type bread at £4 a loaf).

M'colleague posted this on the team Slack the other day:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50146719488_f91e002e60.jpg)

Anecdotally, this is backed up by the fact that my usual online bakery ingredient & kit suppliers are back to (more or less) normal operation and stock levels.

I expect you'll see similar trend lines for online fitness and yoga classes as well.

I've baked two sourdough loaves this morning.

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 24 July, 2020, 03:28:56 pm
My personal graph would be the mirror image of that! Not that I've ever actually made either sourdough or banana bread, but.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Morat on 25 July, 2020, 11:13:03 pm
Our mothership have announced no return to 'normal' working this year.

They are not alone, Mrs. Morat's employer have said the same. I think it's sensible where possible.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 26 July, 2020, 09:25:36 am
Our mothership have announced no return to 'normal' working this year.

They are not alone, Mrs. Morat's employer have said the same. I think it's sensible where possible.

As mentioned elsewhere, this is ok for those who can readily WFH, like my stepson. However most of his staff are young single professionals (this is a City of London based business) in flat shares whose usual private accommodation is one single room. When the commute is reduced to one stride from bed to the desk - if there’s room for a desk even - this is sub-optimal. Many have given up and returned to parents. 

WFH is perhaps ok for those who’ve established a career, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a good way to start out.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Morat on 26 July, 2020, 09:43:33 am
Our mothership have announced no return to 'normal' working this year.

They are not alone, Mrs. Morat's employer have said the same. I think it's sensible where possible.

As mentioned elsewhere, this is ok for those who can readily WFH, like my stepson. However most of his staff are young single professionals (this is a City of London based business) in flat shares whose usual private accommodation is one single room. When the commute is reduced to one stride from bed to the desk - if there’s room for a desk even - this is sub-optimal. Many have given up and returned to parents. 

WFH is perhaps ok for those who’ve established a career, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a good way to start out.

I totally agree. My former colleague has given up her flatshare in London and moved back to her parents' house. As she says, there's no point paying London rent if you can't go out and the office is closed. The good news for her is that she's still doing the same job for the same pay.
This situation is also probably driving the (alleged) mini property boom of people further up the chain looking to move out and upsize.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 27 July, 2020, 10:34:46 am
Yes, I know a lot of people who are crammed into small flats with no adequate space to WFH – I'm acutely conscious when I talk about WFH that I have the luxury of a large office. Upsizing isn't an option for many people if they want to be anywhere near London (which, if you're young, is the place to be).

The other thing is how many of us met out partners at work (or through work). I'm sure I saw a statistic once, but it's a lot. The human race might die out.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: hatler on 27 July, 2020, 10:50:15 am
Just had a Teams call with a lovely Kiwi guy in the team. He and his missus are keen climbers. He had three days out at the end of last week and things piled up a bit, hence the urgent call this morning.

Turns out he was having a quick run up the Aiguille de Midi. At the end of the call he let on that he is in Chamonix for two months.  Someone else has moved back to the Lake District. Another one is considering working from Morocco for a couple of months at the end of the year.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 27 July, 2020, 11:24:39 am
There's talk from the USA of rents in places like NY and SF decreasing and increasing in smaller towns as a result of this effect.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 27 July, 2020, 11:45:33 am
The human race might die out.

That would make social distancing much easier.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: TheLurker on 27 July, 2020, 03:39:12 pm
Quote from: ian
.... The human race might die out.
And that's a bad thing?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: andytheflyer on 27 July, 2020, 05:43:36 pm
Considering that there are virtually no organisms of any complexity still extant from the Cambrian (and the explosion of life on the planet), I'd say that's fairly likely.  Maybe a few cyanobacteria? I forget after all this time since I was a geo-student, flogging around all parts of the UK (and a bit of Spain), getting wet and dirty on field trips. 

So, the demise if the human race is fairly likely, just not in the next couple of years.  Gaia will thank us and I don't think it'll bother me, or my kids, or probably even their kids..............)

As Geology students, we were shown a fossil brachipod (bit like a shellfish - except it's not, Lingulella IIRC) that's still extant from the Palaeozoic, but that's one of the very few survivors. 

Other prognostications may be available.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 27 July, 2020, 06:11:02 pm
So, the demise if the human race is fairly likely, just not in the next couple of years.

Shame. I was looking forward to being able to get a seat on the train.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 27 July, 2020, 08:20:12 pm
The effective population size of humanity is very low, many of our ancestors squeezed through geographical bottlenecks and even in Africa, our core genetic diversity is very limited through past near-extinction events. We're marked by our lack of genetic diversity.

So, yes, we are at risk as a species, but sitting in front of Pornhub with a box of Kleenex for company is probably no way to go extinct.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wobbly John on 27 July, 2020, 09:00:55 pm
I had a bonfire in the oildrum-incinerator at the allotment today, as it was showery and windy, with the wind blowing the smoke across fields towards the bypass.

I had forgotten how long my hair had grown...  ::-)

It's not quite as long now...  :o

...and I can't get a comb through it anymore...  :facepalm:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Basil on 27 July, 2020, 09:30:14 pm
And today, I had my first haircut since February.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: matthew on 27 July, 2020, 09:45:17 pm
I had my first haircut of the year at the weekend. It's normally every 10-12 weeks and the previous was just before Christmas, so in mid March I was thinking which day to go to the barbers when they were ordered to close. Suffice to say after the cut I had to adjust my cycle helmet.  :o
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: madcow on 27 July, 2020, 10:26:08 pm
I had my first haircut of the year at the weekend. It's normally every 10-12 weeks and the previous was just before Christmas, so in mid March I was thinking which day to go to the barbers when they were ordered to close. Suffice to say after the cut I had to adjust my cycle helmet.  :o

10-12 weeks- what sort of degenerate hippy lifestyle do you lead?
I invested in some hair clippers on fleabay. When they arrived the packaging said "Suitable for all kinds of pets".
Payback with 2 haircuts and Mrs. M is so adept that so long as I don't need to intermingle at work , then I shall be quids in by December.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 27 July, 2020, 11:28:41 pm
I had my first haircut of the year at the weekend.

You held out longer than me.  (In my defence, the pedal car racing (https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=95565.msg2406753#msg2406753) was cancelled, so I got barakta to do it.)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: cycleman on 28 July, 2020, 08:16:15 am
Did she win ?  ;D
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 28 July, 2020, 08:49:28 am
I gave myself a haircut last week. I've been keeping it tidy round the back and sides but it was getting a big shaggy on top, so I gave myself a #4.

My forehead seems to have grown since it was last this short.  :-\
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: L CC on 28 July, 2020, 10:16:41 am
I only get a haircut for job interviews. Mr Smith balances this out by cutting his every couple of weeks.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 28 July, 2020, 10:48:41 am
I was fortunate to score a decent pair of clipper on Amazon not long after lock-down.  I've now had 5 cuts, (my hair is short and I like to keep it that way) so I'm already in profit. And like Madcow, it's good enough, even for work in my case.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 28 July, 2020, 11:11:39 am
I had a haircut in 2008.  Didn't like it.  Not doing that again in a hurry.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: hatler on 28 July, 2020, 11:13:58 am
I was fortunate to score a decent pair of clipper on Amazon not long after lock-down.  I've now had 5 cuts, (my hair is short and I like to keep it that way) so I'm already in profit. And like Madcow, it's good enough, even for work in my case.
The cheapo clippers Mrs hatler bought about 20 years ago are still in use about every ten weeks. We're very much in positive territory. Def one of our best buys.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Auntie Helen on 28 July, 2020, 12:28:39 pm
During lockdown I cut my chap’s hair using clippers borrowed from our landlord. It worked well enough that I did it a second time, also good, and he said we should do it ourselves in future.

We then started looking for prices of clippers on Amazon and found that most of them are battery controlled which meant they would probably stop working after three or four years. This seems rather bad value as our landlord’s clippers were over 25 years old and had a cable. So we started generally googling for clippers with cables rather than batteries but they were all quite expensive and we weren’t sure how good they were. I said to him we needed something as well-made as the dog’s hair clippers which I bought 10 years ago for nearly £200 but are brilliant.

So in the end we actually bought a new set of blades for the dog hair clippers that we are using on Klaus. The blades themselves cost nearly €40 but they are really high quality and will probably last the rest of his life. The dog uses a 7F blade and Klaus has a 4F so if the dog wants to go a bit longer in the future she has a chance.

Cutting his hair is not so easy as for some people as he still has a full head of hair and the top needs to be longer than the clippers allow. I haven’t yet got entirely the correct technique but I am learning. I do the top with the dog’s scissors and finish off the back with my lady’s electric shaver.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 28 July, 2020, 12:45:35 pm
There's long hair everywhere from my gradually yetifying wife. I'd forgotten what that was like (previous ex- had long hair right down her back and a fluffy chinchilla). She really should get it tamed. The chinchilla too.

Wahl Pro clippers for the win (she won't let me use them on her) – I mow my head every Sunday, they're indestructible, recommended by Mr Topper off Tottenham Court Road about two decades ago, he's not seen me since. Top tip, have your head shaved during an afternoon at the pub, when they think you've gone to the bar.

Back when I was a PhD student, my flatmate Megan had her head shaved (she was an art student, every week was a project, she used to paint my room different colours while I was out). Because, because, we spent six entire months pretending not to notice, while she spent six months pretending to not to notice we were pretending not to notice.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 28 July, 2020, 12:52:29 pm
We then started looking for prices of clippers on Amazon and found that most of them are battery controlled which meant they would probably stop working after three or four years.

I have been thinking about replacing my ancient Babyliss battery-powered clippers, which barely hold a charge now. It's a real problem because they are liable to cut out mid-trim, which can leave me with the bastards attached to my face. Painful.

Not sure how long I've had them, tbh. Well over 10 years though, so they've done me pretty well. You could probably make battery-powered clippers last a long time if you do all the things you're supposed to in order to prolong battery life - which I've never been very good at.

I bought them to replace the wired set I had before, because I got fed up of the inconvenience of the wire - no socket in the bathroom, you see.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jurek on 28 July, 2020, 12:56:46 pm
Another  Wahl Pro user here.
Bought mine in 1994.
Used every three or four weeks since then.
Stopped working and were replaced with Wahl Pro clippers a couple of years ago.
The new ones aren't anywhere nearly as well made as the old ones were.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 28 July, 2020, 01:11:08 pm
We then started looking for prices of clippers on Amazon and found that most of them are battery controlled which meant they would probably stop working after three or four years.

I have been thinking about replacing my ancient Babyliss battery-powered clippers, which barely hold a charge now. It's a real problem because they are liable to cut out mid-trim, which can leave me with the bastards attached to my face. Painful.

Not sure how long I've had them, tbh. Well over 10 years though, so they've done me pretty well. You could probably make battery-powered clippers last a long time if you do all the things you're supposed to in order to prolong battery life - which I've never been very good at.

This sort of thing annoys me.  Make a battery-powered clipper.  With a 18650 cell (or similar standard size) in a battery compartment that a non-technical user can access with a screwdriver.  Job. Done.

They manage it for Shitty Cordless Phones.

I understand that smartphones are size-optimised to a point of ludicrousness, and that toothbrushes have a waterproofing issue, but for most small battery appliances, this should be the norm.


Obviously this isn't in the manufacturer's interests, as they want to sell you a new widget.  Perhaps if there were some sort of large international trading union they could mandate it on environmental grounds...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 28 July, 2020, 01:15:48 pm
This sort of thing annoys me.  Make a battery-powered clipper.  With a 18650 cell (or similar standard size) in a battery compartment that a non-technical user can access with a screwdriver.  Job. Done.

Yeah, I've contemplated breaking open the case to swap the battery, but it doesn't really look designed to putbacktogetherable.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 28 July, 2020, 01:16:43 pm
We then started looking for prices of clippers on Amazon and found that most of them are battery controlled which meant they would probably stop working after three or four years.

I have been thinking about replacing my ancient Babyliss battery-powered clippers, which barely hold a charge now. It's a real problem because they are liable to cut out mid-trim, which can leave me with the bastards attached to my face. Painful.

Not sure how long I've had them, tbh. Well over 10 years though, so they've done me pretty well. You could probably make battery-powered clippers last a long time if you do all the things you're supposed to in order to prolong battery life - which I've never been very good at.

This sort of thing annoys me.  Make a battery-powered clipper.  With a 18650 cell (or similar standard size) in a battery compartment that a non-technical user can access with a screwdriver.  Job. Done.

They manage it for Shitty Cordless Phones.

I understand that smartphones are size-optimised to a point of ludicrousness, and that toothbrushes have a waterproofing issue, but for most small battery appliances, this should be the norm.


Obviously this isn't in the manufacturer's interests, as they want to sell you a new widget.  Perhaps if there were some sort of large international trading union they could mandate it on environmental grounds...

https://nokiamob.net/2020/06/27/eu-accepted-a-repairability-standard-repairability-labels-mandatory-on-some-markets-starting-next-year/

They are starting to get the idea... Slowly...

J
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: andytheflyer on 28 July, 2020, 01:50:56 pm
Nah.  The children with the crayons will decide that product liability will be too much of a liability and find some weasel-lawyer words to opt out.  Just you watch.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 28 July, 2020, 01:55:53 pm
The rechargeable clippers I borrowed from my sister (or rather my brother-in-law) back in April wouldn't work while charging. Presumably this is a safety device to prevent you clipping through the cable.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 28 July, 2020, 03:21:01 pm
Another  Wahl Pro user here.
Bought mine in 1994.
Used every three or four weeks since then.
Stopped working and were replaced with Wahl Pro clippers a couple of years ago.
The new ones aren't anywhere nearly as well made as the old ones were.

I got mine a couple of years back, seam sturdy enough, and heavy enough to really bloody hurt if you drop them on toes. Trust me, I've tried it. I had some Remington ones before that which were OK, but the combs were made out of plastic cheese.

Wahl seem to do a massive range now, none of them look precisely like the ones I have. Anyway, even at £50 that's about a third of what my wife seems to pay for a haircut. They have a wire though, but I have an handy shaver socket next to the sink.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jurek on 28 July, 2020, 05:10:12 pm
Another  Wahl Pro user here.
Bought mine in 1994.
Used every three or four weeks since then.
Stopped working and were replaced with Wahl Pro clippers a couple of years ago.
The new ones aren't anywhere nearly as well made as the old ones were.

I got mine a couple of years back, seam sturdy enough, and heavy enough to really bloody hurt if you drop them on toes. Trust me, I've tried it. I had some Remington ones before that which were OK, but the combs were made out of plastic cheese.

Wahl seem to do a massive range now, none of them look precisely like the ones I have. Anyway, even at £50 that's about a third of what my wife seems to pay for a haircut. They have a wire though, but I have an handy shaver socket next to the sink.
I had mine in bits almost immediately as I wanted to swap the horrible, non-compliant, PVC-covered mains lead for a flexy silicone one.
Easy enough in the old machine as all the connections were soldered.
In the new one the connections are crimped - I guess that crimping during assembly requires fewer skills than soldering does.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 28 July, 2020, 05:25:23 pm
Wahl clippers here as well, second pair bought a few years ago after the previous had lasted since my time as a PSO where me and a fellow rugby-playing flatmate used to each others, both corded pairs adn now get used on my son as well.  No dog, or chinchilla 
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 28 July, 2020, 06:54:39 pm
Looks on, bemused by an entire page about haircuts.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 28 July, 2020, 07:46:17 pm
Looks on, bemused by an entire page about haircuts.

To be fair, there were dogs, job interviews, batteries and silicone mains leads, too.

(Also sourdough, but your page might be shorter than mine.)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: madcow on 28 July, 2020, 09:08:09 pm
We had a few days away last week and during the course of a short ride ,we stopped in Brampton for a coffee.
We sat outside the hotel and as the landlady brought out our drinks , a little old lady came walking past on her way to the shops.
The landlady asked how she was coping with all the virus stuff.
"I'm all right " she said, "but it got my brother". And with that she walked on.
She didn't want sympathy or anything, it just was as it was.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: TheLurker on 28 July, 2020, 09:43:08 pm
Looks on, bemused by an entire page about haircuts.
Noo, noo.  If you look slightly more carefully it's a page about the apparatus used to cut hair.  I.e. *gadgets*.  Would you expect anything else on a cycling forum?  After all cyclists are very nearly as bad as photographers when it comes to gadgets.

As it happens, my clippers are mains, Babyliss, about a tenner some 20 odd years ago from Sainsbury's and the lack of a mains plug in the bathroom is dealt with by the use of an extension lead.  Some minor cutting and resoldering of internal connections.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 29 July, 2020, 09:34:59 am
I bodge the British mains plug into a US adaptor for the shaver socket (Euro prongs are too wobbly).

It's like 2020 or something, I'm pretty sure we can put electricity in bathrooms without immediate death.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 29 July, 2020, 01:32:27 pm
It's like 2020 or something, I'm pretty sure we can put electricity in bathrooms without immediate death.

Trouble is I've already taken up all the sockets on the extension lead for the bathroom toaster, bathroom kettle and bathroom three-bar electric heater.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 29 July, 2020, 02:23:59 pm
Extension leads can be daisy-chained.  What could possibly go wrong?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 29 July, 2020, 02:26:52 pm
I plug my extension cable into the shaver socket and drape the cable by hooking it behind the sink tap (otherwise it risks knocking over my beer) so it can sit on the floor.

Then I can plug everything into that. I don't make toast in the bathroom though, the staff bring that up from the kitchen.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 29 July, 2020, 02:27:57 pm
Extension leads can be daisy-chained.  What could possibly go wrong?

Nothing.....

.... So far
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: grams on 29 July, 2020, 07:35:21 pm
Lady in the park yacking loudly into the blower about how she’d flown to Spain at the weekend and has to come straight back to self-isolate.

I had to double check the rules - no exercise outside your home, no dog walking even.

So that’s going well.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 29 July, 2020, 09:31:00 pm
I bodge the British mains plug into a US adaptor for the shaver socket (Euro prongs are too wobbly).

It's like 2020 or something, I'm pretty sure we can put electricity in bathrooms without immediate death.

That's what the shaver socket's for.  It's got a fairly wimpy isolating transformer molished into it, so you won't get a shock between the appliance and ground, and it'll magnetically saturate and/or trip some sort of thermal cutout and/or catch fire if you try to power a toaster from it.  (A centre tap for dispensing feeble leftpondian anbarism is a handy bonus feature.)

I think the regs would permit a Ceeform socket or fused spur (and all the lightswitches etc you like) outside the Safe Area, if you wanted to install a washing machine in the bathroom like they do in ABROAD, where the FOREIGNS come from.

(I've sneaked a modest amount of anbarism into our bathroom using Power-over-Ethernet-under-the-lino-and-up-behind-the-bog.)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 29 July, 2020, 09:42:10 pm
I think the regs would permit a Ceeform socket or fused spur (and all the lightswitches etc you like) outside the Safe Area, if you wanted to install a washing machine in the bathroom like they do in ABROAD, where the FOREIGNS come from.

Rewiring the flat here, it still confuse me that we can run mains into the bathroom, and not just mains, but 3 phase!!

J
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: LittleWheelsandBig on 29 July, 2020, 10:42:06 pm
Brits are a bit backwards in matters relating to electricity. They figure a system that worked in Edison’s time is sufficient and anything better is excessive.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 30 July, 2020, 12:02:56 am
TBH, like most things in middle-England, our electrical standards are harking back to the post-war period when safety was new and exciting, and copper was in short supply.  Hence the abomination that is ring mains.

There's a weird paranoia about electricity in bathrooms, given that you're allowed to have sockets powering kettles and things within splash range of a kitchen sink.  Okay, you could argue a connection to ground through soggy bare feet is more likely in a bathroom, but have they never seen what drunk or caffeine-deficient people get up to in the kitchen?

Seriously, mandate an RCD and proper equipotential bonding, put it out of reach of the bath and get on with it.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 30 July, 2020, 09:34:52 am
That's what I never got, there's sockets in my kitchen. I'm not going to fill up the bathroom with water (and we all know that actual wet room only main function is destroying the ceiling below). All bathrooms are leaky. They're not the sort of room that fills up with water while our victim frantically tries to stay above the water, the clock ticking on any rescue.

So I have to plug stuff into the shaver socket via a USAian adaptor and an extension. I did ask the bathroom guy about electricity when we had it done and he pulled a face and muttered something about The Regulations. As far as I could tell, it wasn't even possible to have a multiple shaver sockets.

Anyway, you can power a couple of lamps, a Sonos speaker, and Wahl hair clippers using a shaver socket.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 30 July, 2020, 10:02:01 am
I replaced our bathroom ceiling extractor fan despite dire YOU WILL DIE warnings, and seem to have survived the experience.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Zipperhead on 30 July, 2020, 03:22:49 pm
There's long hair everywhere from my gradually yetifying wife. I'd forgotten what that was like (previous ex- had long hair right down her back and a fluffy chinchilla). She really should get it tamed. The chinchilla too.

I've never heard it called a chinchilla before, but I have encountered some fluffy ones.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 30 July, 2020, 05:06:29 pm
I've never heard it called a chinchilla before, but I have encountered some fluffy ones.

You're only saying what we're all thinking.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 30 July, 2020, 05:25:20 pm
I replaced our bathroom ceiling extractor fan despite dire YOU WILL DIE warnings, and seem to have survived the experience.

Like for like replacement.  That was never an issue under Part P.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 03 August, 2020, 02:15:19 pm

Trying to do a grocery delivery, seems that Yeast is so out of stock they have removed it from the website, it used to just say out of stock.

Also seems that chopped tomatoes can only be bought in store...

I wonder if others are also prepping for a second wave?

J
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 07 August, 2020, 01:20:53 pm
My son's girlfriend is starting a job in Eindhoven soon. He was planning to accompany her over there to help her move in to her new flat. Living in east Kent, it should be very easy to get there using the tunnel - after the crossing, it's a 3hr drive to Eindhoven.

Unfortunately, with Belgium now being on the quarantine list, that complicates matters somewhat. Driving round the outside of Belgium would turn it into an 8hr journey.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Rod Marton on 07 August, 2020, 01:49:01 pm
My son's girlfriend is starting a job in Eindhoven soon. He was planning to accompany her over there to help her move in to her new flat. Living in east Kent, it should be very easy to get there using the tunnel - after the crossing, it's a 3hr drive to Eindhoven.

Unfortunately, with Belgium now being on the quarantine list, that complicates matters somewhat. Driving round the outside of Belgium would turn it into an 8hr journey.
Ferry to the Hook?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: robgul on 07 August, 2020, 02:00:06 pm
My son's girlfriend is starting a job in Eindhoven soon. He was planning to accompany her over there to help her move in to her new flat. Living in east Kent, it should be very easy to get there using the tunnel - after the crossing, it's a 3hr drive to Eindhoven.

Unfortunately, with Belgium now being on the quarantine list, that complicates matters somewhat. Driving round the outside of Belgium would turn it into an 8hr journey.
Ferry to the Hook?

Not much better as it's East Kent round to Harwich for the ferry - and a toll at Dartford (and I think the ferry would be more expensive than a short trip deal in the tunnel)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 07 August, 2020, 02:00:28 pm
Ferry to the Hook?

From east Kent, driving to somewhere you can get a ferry to the Hook would make the journey even longer than driving round Belgium. Plus the crossing itself is considerably longer. (ETA: and a lot more expensive, as Rob says!)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Auntie Helen on 07 August, 2020, 03:12:14 pm
I understood that if you’re just driving through and don’t stop then it’s ok.

I hope so as I am currently passenger in a car on a Belgian motorway and we will pass through Luxemburg on our way to Saarland in Germany for the weekend. And next week we are travelling to the UK.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 07 August, 2020, 03:31:33 pm
I understood that if you’re just driving through and don’t stop then it’s ok.

I wondered about that but it seems far from clear going by what I heard on the radio earlier. There was a chap who was doing the same thing - travelling from the Netherlands to the UK, via Belgium, and he said he had been told he would have to self-isolate when he got home even if he didn't leave his car while crossing Belgium.

Which is just silly, really.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: robgul on 07 August, 2020, 05:11:58 pm
I understood that if you’re just driving through and don’t stop then it’s ok.

I wondered about that but it seems far from clear going by what I heard on the radio earlier. There was a chap who was doing the same thing - travelling from the Netherlands to the UK, via Belgium, and he said he had been told he would have to self-isolate when he got home even if he didn't leave his car while crossing Belgium.

Which is just silly, really.

If you drive through Belgium how is anyone going to know? - there are no border controls for us (yet :demon:) ... surely it's only if you arrive in the UK by plane, train or ferry from Belgium that anyone would know?

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: orienteer on 07 August, 2020, 08:49:34 pm
What's the position on the Amsterdam to London Eurostar?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Auntie Helen on 08 August, 2020, 06:22:46 am
Found this on the government page:

Quote
Private vehicles
You don’t need to self-isolate if you travel through a non-exempt country and you don’t stop in the country.

If you do make a stop, you don’t need to self-isolate if:

no new people get into the vehicle
no-one in the vehicle gets out, mixes with other people, and gets in again
You do need to self-isolate if you make a stop and:

new people get into the vehicle, or
someone gets out of the vehicle, mixes with other people and gets in again

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-travel-corridors#transit-stops
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 08 August, 2020, 06:56:04 am
Thanks, Auntie H, that does seem pretty clear! The chap on the radio was probably talking shite. I’ll pass the info on to the boy - he’s away on holiday right now so I don’t know if he has been giving the matter much thought but I’m sure he’ll find that useful.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 08 August, 2020, 06:59:25 am
If you drive through Belgium how is anyone going to know?

Same thought crossed my mind but I’d still be paranoid about getting caught if it were me doing it!

Anyway, I’m not Dominic Cummings - I take these kind of restrictions at face value, rather than choose to think they’re open to interpretation if it suits me to do otherwise.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: MikeFromLFE on 08 August, 2020, 07:11:47 am
What's the position on the Amsterdam to London Eurostar?
The Man in Seat 61 twitter feed was trying to unravel this yesterday with no firm conclusion.
It may depend on whether Belgian traveller's are isolated from Dutch passengers, but in any case there's a stop at Lille (in France)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Tim Hall on 08 August, 2020, 09:55:40 am


Anyway, I’m not Dominic Cummings - I take these kind of restrictions at face value, rather than choose to think they’re open to interpretation if it suits me to do otherwise.
This. Many times this.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 11 August, 2020, 12:02:28 pm
I went to Wilko's yesterday. They had a man standing at the door making sure everyone was wearing a mask (he commented on the snazzy – his word – design of mine). All but one of the tills have been converted to self-service. Hardly a new concept but new in this store and confusing because not only was I not expecting it, but there were no signs and they still looked like – were – normal tills, with a conveyor belt and a place for the operator to sit. Operators now replaced by one staff tasked with training customers.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Edd on 11 August, 2020, 02:10:51 pm
I went to Wilko's yesterday. They had a man standing at the door making sure everyone was wearing a mask (he commented on the snazzy – his word – design of mine). All but one of the tills have been converted to self-service. Hardly a new concept but new in this store and confusing because not only was I not expecting it, but there were no signs and they still looked like – were – normal tills, with a conveyor belt and a place for the operator to sit. Operators now replaced by one staff tasked with training customers.

That seems a bit depressing, training customers to take away your job...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 11 August, 2020, 02:23:05 pm
I guess there'll always be a need for someone to oversee the self-scan tills, in order to deter theft and verify ID when someone wants to buy an age-restricted product such as glue or razor blades. So he's the one who's kept his job while his colleagues lost theirs. Though of course I don't know if they've lost them; it might a time-share arrangement or something. They might even be intending to bring back person-operated tills (they still had one) in the future, though comparison with other shops suggests this is unlikely.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: FifeingEejit on 11 August, 2020, 02:33:33 pm
Also depends on how the shop organizers people.
If they have people who are exclusively till operators rather than general shop assistants who do "everything"

I know in Tesco near me, the same staff that stack shelves work the checkouts (Im far too consistent with my timing when I actually go in),
I believe Lidl is a bit different.

Does mean potentially less people to run the shop, but then that may just mean less jobs for students rather than less permanent jobs.

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Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 11 August, 2020, 02:44:32 pm
In a big-picture sense, people shouldn't need to do boring work that can reasonably be done by a computer in order to survive.  On that basis, the jobs objection to self-checkouts seems short-sighted, especially when they have obvious accessibility (and coronavirus safety) benefits.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 11 August, 2020, 02:45:20 pm
I read the other day that Tesco have cancelled contracts with two of the cleaning contractors they use and shop staff are now being given cleaning duties.

So I guess that's what they're doing now they're not on the tills.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 11 August, 2020, 02:56:21 pm
When I was little, I worked part-time at the Coop. I wasn't able to drive a till until I was 16, but I did it all. Shelf-stacking, loading the cages for the shelf-stackers), tutting at their poor attempts at facing up displays and rotating the stock, and every Saturday afternoon I got to put away all the veg and clean up all the displays, getting rid of all the mushy stuff that had fallen down the back.

Actually, I have fond memories of that, because it was always the downward slope from 3pm on Saturday afternoon (I'm old enough that supermarkets still closed at 5pm).

I was also the store detective, though I mostly let people get away with it. Old ladies stealing tins of salmon for their cats was the main thing (it got so bad they had to sell it from behind the cigarette counter). I was also the only person trusted by the manager with access to the booze and cigarettes storeroom. To be fair, I never nicked anything, but I did once drop twelve bottles of whisky.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 11 August, 2020, 02:58:34 pm
In a big-picture sense, people shouldn't need to do boring work that can reasonably be done by a computer in order to survive.  On that basis, the jobs objection to self-checkouts seems short-sighted, especially when they have obvious accessibility (and coronavirus safety) benefits.
I'll take your word on the accessibility benefits, but I'm not sure if it's safer coronavirus-wise for lots of people to handle a scanner (it's the gun type, cos it was tills beforehand, not the type where you wave the object in front of a screen) that's been handled by lots of other people, or for one person to handle other person's items.

Actually, I'll question the accessibility benefits as well. If you're blind, who's going to read the display to you? I'm also not sure how wheelchair friendly it is; you have to lean across the conveyor to use the scanner, look at the screen and press the payment button, and reach the card payment terminal. All that's been done to make it customer-usable is to turn the screen round. And if you want to pay cash (or cheque!) you'll have to use the human-operated till.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Wowbagger on 11 August, 2020, 03:03:50 pm
In a big-picture sense, people shouldn't need to do boring work that can reasonably be done by a computer in order to survive.  On that basis, the jobs objection to self-checkouts seems short-sighted, especially when they have obvious accessibility (and coronavirus safety) benefits.

In principle I'd agree, but in practice the checkout person at the supermarket may well be doing a great job in speaking to people who have no other contacts. Of course, we shouldn't be running a society the way we do, but sadly we've got the fucking Tories in charge.

As a side-note, I was talking to my brother about Things and Stuff the other day. I can't recall the precise context, but I likened the Tories to the daleks. "I think I prefer the daleks..." he replied.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 11 August, 2020, 03:16:39 pm
I went to Wilko's yesterday. They had a man standing at the door making sure everyone was wearing a mask (he commented on the snazzy – his word – design of mine). All but one of the tills have been converted to self-service. Hardly a new concept but new in this store and confusing because not only was I not expecting it, but there were no signs and they still looked like – were – normal tills, with a conveyor belt and a place for the operator to sit. Operators now replaced by one staff tasked with training customers.

That seems a bit depressing, training customers to take away your job...

When The Mgt decided to move my then-employer’s award-winning IT Helldesk to Indiah, in order to enhance shareholder value, the soon-to-be-redundant Helldesk droids were expected train the honest Hindoo coolies who would soon be taking over.  Surprisingly, only one of them told The Mgt to piss up a rope; he took the money instead and invested it in a high-yield extended motorcycle tour of USAnia.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: tatanab on 11 August, 2020, 03:34:56 pm
In principle I'd agree, but in practice the checkout person at the supermarket may well be doing a great job in speaking to people who have no other contacts.
That is me.  Since I've not been able to meet cycling clubs there have been many weeks where my social interaction is limited to "hello and thank you" at the till.  A very few of my local shops are self checkout only and consequently have lost my business (small as it might be).
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 11 August, 2020, 07:08:37 pm
In a big-picture sense, people shouldn't need to do boring work that can reasonably be done by a computer in order to survive.  On that basis, the jobs objection to self-checkouts seems short-sighted, especially when they have obvious accessibility (and coronavirus safety) benefits.
I'll take your word on the accessibility benefits, but I'm not sure if it's safer coronavirus-wise for lots of people to handle a scanner (it's the gun type, cos it was tills beforehand, not the type where you wave the object in front of a screen) that's been handled by lots of other people, or for one person to handle other person's items.

Yeah, that's much less good.


Quote
Actually, I'll question the accessibility benefits as well. If you're blind, who's going to read the display to you? I'm also not sure how wheelchair friendly it is; you have to lean across the conveyor to use the scanner, look at the screen and press the payment button, and reach the card payment terminal. All that's been done to make it customer-usable is to turn the screen round. And if you want to pay cash (or cheque!) you'll have to use the human-operated till.

They're a massive win for deaf users, because they stick to their script and you don't have to be able to hear them (okay, they tend to talk by default, but you can turn that off or ignore it).  Some of them can speak multiple languages.  And you can take as long as you like fiddling with your money or packing your shopping, because you're not holding up a checkout operator or specific queue of customers.

Obviously those things aren't beneficial to everyone.  Which is why you still need the option of a checkout operator.

Many of them take cash.  Indeed, pre-COVID it was my preferred method of dealing with small change (which barakta would accumulate, because hand impairment).
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 11 August, 2020, 08:33:54 pm
Quote
Actually, I'll question the accessibility benefits as well. If you're blind, who's going to read the display to you? I'm also not sure how wheelchair friendly it is; you have to lean across the conveyor to use the scanner, look at the screen and press the payment button, and reach the card payment terminal. All that's been done to make it customer-usable is to turn the screen round. And if you want to pay cash (or cheque!) you'll have to use the human-operated till.

They're a massive win for deaf users, because they stick to their script and you don't have to be able to hear them (okay, they tend to talk by default, but you can turn that off or ignore it).  Some of them can speak multiple languages.  And you can take as long as you like fiddling with your money or packing your shopping, because you're not holding up a checkout operator or specific queue of customers.

Obviously those things aren't beneficial to everyone.  Which is why you still need the option of a checkout operator.

Many of them take cash.  Indeed, pre-COVID it was my preferred method of dealing with small change (which barakta would accumulate, because hand impairment).
Those are the purpose-made self-scan tills. Wilko doesn't have those (at least not in the branch I went to). It has cashier-operated tills at which you have to be the cashier and customer, but all from the customer side. They don't speak and they don't take cash, cos you don't have access to the cash drawer.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 11 August, 2020, 08:40:33 pm
Many of them take cash.  Indeed, pre-COVID it was my preferred method of dealing with small change (which barakta would accumulate, because hand impairment).

When Sainsbury's first installed self checkouts, they had a simple hopper you could pour coins into. Unfortunately the internal container for them is slightly under 1 pint. As I discovered when I poured in 1 pint of 2p coins... or rather about 90% of 1 pint of 2p coins...

They have since put a cover on with a slot, so you have to put the coins in individually... The just under 1 pint limit still exists. But you get glared at feeding them in one by one...

J
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: jsabine on 11 August, 2020, 09:09:31 pm
They have since put a cover on with a slot, so you have to put the coins in individually...

It's a flip-up cover, at least on some models of self checkout. (I'm sure I read that here, and thus knew to look for it last week when I had a pocketful of change I wanted to use.)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: cygnet on 11 August, 2020, 10:51:13 pm
The [house of toothy comestibles] near to where I lived prior to the start of all this was progressing to more new closer stacked self service, card only tills.

They had to "off-limit" 50% of them.

My new local hotc had not been subjected to the same enthusiasm for space / staff / cost saving. And has far smaller queues as a result.

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: pcolbeck on 14 August, 2020, 10:15:58 am
Our little village in the middle of nowhere and on the way to nowhere has been even quieter than normal during lock-down. The police normally drive through once a year to make sure its still here.
This week there have been an unmarked police car which stopped and asked for directions to a house and marked cars pootling around at 10mph  for the last few days.

As you would expect this has got people talking. The rumour mill is working overtime with the current favourites being a meth lab, violent poachers in the area and someone having a connection to organised crime that's gone a bit pear shaped.

I suspect the poaching one is the most likely.

The last time there was police activity anything like at this scale was twenty years ago when the top scientists at MAFF (which has labs about ten miles away) was staying in a guest house in the village and there were credible threats against him from animal rights extremists. Then there was an unmarked police car with an armed response team parked on the edge of the village every night.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 14 August, 2020, 10:53:51 am
I suspect the poaching one is the most likely.

Definitely not that they've got a sniff of the cannabis farm in your attic, of course. ;)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 14 August, 2020, 11:52:19 am
I wonder if we'll see supermarket sandwiches and salads finally go out of fashion with the outbreak in Greencore?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Basil on 14 August, 2020, 11:58:29 am
Our little village......[hotbed of crime]

What an exciting place you live in.
We once had someone double park here.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 18 August, 2020, 01:56:50 pm
Pandemic officially over as Mr Sainsbury’s House of Toothy Comestibles restarts making you put a pound in the slot to release a trolley from its bondage.  The [“Oiks” – The Invigilator.]s are clearly abroad again.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Pingu on 19 August, 2020, 02:24:27 pm
First haircut since lockdown started.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: SteveC on 19 August, 2020, 05:38:46 pm
First haircut since lockdown started.
First visit to the dentist yesterday since lockdown started. I broke a tooth over the weekend, so it was an 'emergency'.
However, as there was plenty of time after the tooth was sorted, I was given a six-monthly checkup as well, which was a couple of months earlier than originally planned.
(Hair still needs cutting, though.)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Greenbank on 19 August, 2020, 10:24:15 pm
Many of them take cash.  Indeed, pre-COVID it was my preferred method of dealing with small change (which barakta would accumulate, because hand impairment).

When Sainsbury's first installed self checkouts, they had a simple hopper you could pour coins into. Unfortunately the internal container for them is slightly under 1 pint. As I discovered when I poured in 1 pint of 2p coins... or rather about 90% of 1 pint of 2p coins...

They have since put a cover on with a slot, so you have to put the coins in individually... The just under 1 pint limit still exists. But you get glared at feeding them in one by one...

As it's not a debt a supermarket can choose refuse to serve you regardless of how you'd want to pay. They could, for example, choose to refuse to accept a perfectly good £20 note to pay a £20 bill, but it's unlikely they would.

But for settling a debt with "legal tender" there's a limit of 20p in 2p coins (if someone wanted to enforce that): https://www.royalmint.com/help/trm-faqs/legal-tender-amounts/

Now it's easier to pour the coins into a machine at a Metro bank and then cash them out that way. They don't charge any fee/percentage for doing so and don't mind non-customers using the machines. Everywhere else either charges a percentage or requires you to be a customer to pay the coins into an account. (I once paid in £195 in 5p pieces over the course of three trips to my local Lloyds Bank. I'd bagged them up myself [using digital scales to avoid endless counting] and they were happy to do it as long as there was no queue.)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rr on 19 August, 2020, 11:30:22 pm
On some machines you can lift the slot out to reveal a hopper.

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Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: FifeingEejit on 19 August, 2020, 11:44:06 pm
The [house of toothy comestibles] near to where I lived prior to the start of all this was progressing to more new closer stacked self service, card only tills.

They had to "off-limit" 50% of them.

My new local hotc had not been subjected to the same enthusiasm for space / staff / cost saving. And has far smaller queues as a result.
The Tesco I go to or at least went to before starting to use click and collect only have half of the real tills that aren't blocked up by excess stock (about the last 4 pairs) available, there's also 50% self serve and 50% of the scan it yourself terminals available.
The village coop is the same in their real tills but they a rarely have all 4 going at once in normal times anyway, one of the Spars has 2 on but spaced to suit by Design thanks to a pillar anyway and the other one only ever has 1 person on at anytime anyway.

None of them are any slower than normal...

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Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: FifeingEejit on 19 August, 2020, 11:51:49 pm


As it's not a debt a supermarket can choose refuse to serve you regardless of how you'd want to pay. They could, for example, choose to refuse to accept a perfectly good £20 note to pay a £20 bill, but it's unlikely they would.

You need to travel north of Newcastle a bit more often...

The only sterling decimal note that wasnt promissory was the BoE £1 the rest are all similarly nominally worthless bits of polymer.

See also sterling coins issued by the states of Jersey, balliwixk of Guernsey, Gibraltar and government of the Isle of Mann.

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Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: pcolbeck on 20 August, 2020, 12:30:20 am
Our little village......[hotbed of crime]

What an exciting place you live in.
We once had someone double park here.

Attempting to recapture the nanny goat and her kid that got loose and were eating everyone's front gardens - now that was exciting and knackering. It's hard to catch a goat that's delighted to be on the lam with an infinite supply of tasty flowers and hedges all around.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 20 August, 2020, 06:17:34 am
Many of them take cash.  Indeed, pre-COVID it was my preferred method of dealing with small change (which barakta would accumulate, because hand impairment).

When Sainsbury's first installed self checkouts, they had a simple hopper you could pour coins into. Unfortunately the internal container for them is slightly under 1 pint. As I discovered when I poured in 1 pint of 2p coins... or rather about 90% of 1 pint of 2p coins...

They have since put a cover on with a slot, so you have to put the coins in individually... The just under 1 pint limit still exists. But you get glared at feeding them in one by one...

As it's not a debt a supermarket can choose refuse to serve you regardless of how you'd want to pay. They could, for example, choose to refuse to accept a perfectly good £20 note to pay a £20 bill, but it's unlikely they would.

But for settling a debt with "legal tender" there's a limit of 20p in 2p coins (if someone wanted to enforce that): https://www.royalmint.com/help/trm-faqs/legal-tender-amounts/

Now it's easier to pour the coins into a machine at a Metro bank and then cash them out that way. They don't charge any fee/percentage for doing so and don't mind non-customers using the machines. Everywhere else either charges a percentage or requires you to be a customer to pay the coins into an account. (I once paid in £195 in 5p pieces over the course of three trips to my local Lloyds Bank. I'd bagged them up myself [using digital scales to avoid endless counting] and they were happy to do it as long as there was no queue.)

With a 20 mile one way trip to the nearest Metro bank, I'm not convinced the economics of that really stacks up
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Greenbank on 20 August, 2020, 10:12:47 am
Many of them take cash.  Indeed, pre-COVID it was my preferred method of dealing with small change (which barakta would accumulate, because hand impairment).

When Sainsbury's first installed self checkouts, they had a simple hopper you could pour coins into. Unfortunately the internal container for them is slightly under 1 pint. As I discovered when I poured in 1 pint of 2p coins... or rather about 90% of 1 pint of 2p coins...

They have since put a cover on with a slot, so you have to put the coins in individually... The just under 1 pint limit still exists. But you get glared at feeding them in one by one...

As it's not a debt a supermarket can choose refuse to serve you regardless of how you'd want to pay. They could, for example, choose to refuse to accept a perfectly good £20 note to pay a £20 bill, but it's unlikely they would.

But for settling a debt with "legal tender" there's a limit of 20p in 2p coins (if someone wanted to enforce that): https://www.royalmint.com/help/trm-faqs/legal-tender-amounts/

Now it's easier to pour the coins into a machine at a Metro bank and then cash them out that way. They don't charge any fee/percentage for doing so and don't mind non-customers using the machines. Everywhere else either charges a percentage or requires you to be a customer to pay the coins into an account. (I once paid in £195 in 5p pieces over the course of three trips to my local Lloyds Bank. I'd bagged them up myself [using digital scales to avoid endless counting] and they were happy to do it as long as there was no queue.)

With a 20 mile one way trip to the nearest Metro bank, I'm not convinced the economics of that really stacks up

I've heard of an invention that makes journeys of that kind of length possible under one's own power, sometimes even enjoyable.

(Obviously the advice won't work for everyone, but that's no reason not to let people know that the facility does exist and may be usable by some people.)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: L CC on 20 August, 2020, 11:11:16 am
I've heard of an invention that makes journeys of that kind of length possible under one's own power, sometimes even enjoyable.

Steady on mate. Crazy talk!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: grams on 26 August, 2020, 01:15:11 pm
The holes in the Perspex screens in the tills in Pret are like a quarter of an inch narrower than the silver platters they serve eat-in meals on.

It’s just the right distance that it looks like it will fit, and every time it doesn’t. Torture.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: SteveC on 26 August, 2020, 05:22:57 pm
Latest from our work is that one of the divisions (not the one I work in) has started saying things like 'be prepared to work from home for the whole of next year'.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jurek on 26 August, 2020, 05:33:57 pm
I've just been advised that I'm back at work from Sept 7th.
I've been off since March 16th.
The really good news is that we've been relocated back to our old office in E17.
This means that I'll get my old cycle commute back.  :thumbsup:
26 miles one way to the new place, with the last 8 miles on shitty roads was just too much.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 26 August, 2020, 05:49:29 pm
Our mothership is reopening on the 8th September as a 'socially distanced collaboration environment.'
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jurek on 26 August, 2020, 05:58:30 pm
The one thing which we do have at work is space.
The site I'm currently at is ~ 24 acres.
The one I'm moving back to is ~6 acres with probably fewer than 60 people working there.
I reckon you could easily fit 80 to 100 double decker buses into the building I will be working in.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 26 August, 2020, 06:21:36 pm
I've just found out I'm supposed to be back in the office next week, but fortunately I've got the week booked off.

We've been split into two groups, alternating weeks in the office, in order to maintain distancing. That means instead of having just a few days to get used to the idea of being back in the office, I've got two full weeks plus a few days. Must say that is a relief.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 26 August, 2020, 08:06:03 pm
I technically work from home anyway, so probably won't go back this year, but reading between the lines they're generally moving to towards primarily home-based working (for those who can) with offices as hubs (I doubt we'll be keeping two motherships orbiting over London in the long term).

Which actually seems to make sense and pretty much what I've been doing for years.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Canardly on 26 August, 2020, 09:18:02 pm
Passed a main roadside pub this evening with tables outside fairly well occupied by customers. All closely seated and none wearing masks. Has the message been lost in the telling somewhere?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Polar Bear on 26 August, 2020, 09:28:57 pm
Passed a main roadside pub this evening with tables outside fairly well occupied by customers. All closely seated and none wearing masks. Has the message been lost in the telling somewhere?

Didn't you know that food and drink makes you immune?  🤔
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 27 August, 2020, 12:40:44 am
Passed a main roadside pub this evening with tables outside fairly well occupied by customers. All closely seated and none wearing masks. Has the message been lost in the telling somewhere?

Didn't you know that food and drink makes you immune?  🤔

Sort of:  The government's SCIENCE says that the virus isn't transmissible where a card payment machine is in use.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 27 August, 2020, 08:15:52 am
The message is that the economy, and to a lesser extent mental health and, ooh, let's give it a fancy name like 'social cohesion', are more important than physical health.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 27 August, 2020, 08:30:39 am
Passed a main roadside pub this evening with tables outside fairly well occupied by customers. All closely seated and none wearing masks. Has the message been lost in the telling somewhere?

On
Mondays to Wednesdays it is safe.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rob on 27 August, 2020, 08:36:17 am
My lot start back in the office on a rota system from 1st Sep.  My last day with them is 31st Aug.

The new place doesn’t have enough room for everyone spaced out so can do a max of 40% occupancy.  I’ll probably go into town 2 days a week and do the rest from home.

I have a courier picking up my pc on Tuesday and another courier delivering the new one the same day.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 27 August, 2020, 10:46:39 am
Do people actually still drink that filthy muck now that even USAnians have learned how to brew proper BEER?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: PaulF on 27 August, 2020, 10:55:55 am
My lot start back in the office on a rota system from 1st Sep.  My last day with them is 31st Aug.

The new place doesn’t have enough room for everyone spaced out so can do a max of 40% occupancy.  I’ll probably go into town 2 days a week and do the rest from home.

I have a courier picking up my pc on Tuesday and another courier delivering the new one the same day.

I can’t see any possible way that you’ll be left without a computer ;D
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: L CC on 27 August, 2020, 11:33:49 am
One of my team is waiting for results.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 27 August, 2020, 11:49:17 am
Do people actually still drink that filthy muck now that even USAnians have learned how to brew proper BEER?

It's still inconceivably popular with a slice of lime jammed in the neck. Like Stella, which tastes – I'd imagine, I've never tasted Toilet Duck – like a toilet cleaning product.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 27 August, 2020, 12:17:04 pm
Like Stella, which tastes – I'd imagine, I've never tasted Toilet Duck – like a toilet cleaning product.

Isn't the main appeal of industrial lagerpops that they don't taste much of anything at all?

People get easily confused by things that interfere with their tastebuds - distracts them from focusing their attention 100% on the football.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Rod Marton on 27 August, 2020, 12:26:11 pm
Like Stella, which tastes – I'd imagine, I've never tasted Toilet Duck – like a toilet cleaning product.

Isn't the main appeal of industrial lagerpops that they don't taste much of anything at all?

People get easily confused by things that interfere with their tastebuds - distracts them from focusing their attention 100% on the football.

Some years ago I was given a tour of a laboratory and was rather impressed by the number of bottles of beer lying around. OK, it was Budweiser, but even so...

Turned out they doing a project to detect a chemical which caused taint in beer. Though it seemed it was only a problem for American beer, because American beer doesn't taste of anything.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 27 August, 2020, 12:39:33 pm
I like a decent lager, but it has to taste of something. Corona, as far as I recall, is tasteless (as are domestic US beers). Stella was outright nasty, I presume they brew it in the UK from concentrated gunk (basically add water and yeast). I don't remember Stella in Belgium tasting that bad. Possibly it's location, drinking piss-water local brews sitting with your legs dangling off the back of a catamaran in the Caribbean doesn't really translate to sitting by a radiator on a damp December evening in Surrey.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Tim Hall on 27 August, 2020, 12:41:46 pm
Many years ago, in a newsgroup far far away, this was posted:
Quote
one of our "cultural outings" was to elgood's in wisbech. the head
brewer _there_ took us around and at one point showed us a vat which
their "lager" was brewing. i said "that's not a lager, it's a
top-fermenting yeast". he said "_you_ know it's not a lager, and _i_
know it's not a lager, but it has the stainless steel and polythene
flavour the punters seem to like".

It has remained lodged in my memory banks for no good reason but it seems appropriate.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 27 August, 2020, 12:58:05 pm
The lack of flavour in US beers is largely down to using a high proportion of rice and corn syrup, rather than all malt. Although they market it as 'clean' and 'crisp', like this is a good thing, rather than calling it 'flavourless'.

I don't find Stella all that bad - mainly because the high alcohol level gives it a bit of bite, at least. Although I can't actually remember the last time I drank Stella (which is, ironically, a known side-effect of drinking Stella).

Anyway, back on the topic of lockdown, one of the benefits of WFH is that I occasionally get to visit the local brewery tap during its limited opening hours. I've been enjoying their seasonal summer brew, which most definitely has plenty of flavour - it's a superbly balanced strong-ish bitter with oodles of malt and hops. And drinking it just a few metres from where it was brewed, it's fresh as can be. I'm going to miss my afternoon rides over there when I'm back in the office.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Tim Hall on 27 August, 2020, 01:03:41 pm
Taking of drinking beerr a few metres from where it was brewed, I went to the Milk Churn cafe while cyclimg at the weekend, which is just off the Downs Link.  On the same site is the Firebird Brewery, so I bought a bottle of Heritage to drink with my sausage roll.

The blurb says
Quote
A Sussex Classic, developed from an old recipe of Bill's Great, Great grandad. Full malt flavour, robust bitterness, and a subtle dried fruits aftertaste.
Tasty enough but I'm sure it would have tasted even better if it hadn't come out of the fridge.  I may write to them, if ICBA, to suggest this.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 27 August, 2020, 01:44:26 pm
I remember going to SF with a German colleague back in the 80s and being delighted to see Spaten and Löwenbräu signs in the first bar we went to. The delight lasted right up to the first mouthful.  Can't quite remember Georg's first comment, it was something along the lines of "was für ein Scheiß..?"  It was still better than the local gnatswater, though.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 27 August, 2020, 02:58:34 pm
I just find British Stella to taste like I'd expect licking the tank to taste, weird and metallic. Sitting in a bar in Belgium with a small glass of it, it's fine. I quite like Jupiler, probably because it only seems to appear as an import rather than the dreaded 'brewed in the UK.' It's best not to drink too much, otherwise you start to fancy seeing yourself in a nice pair of red trousers.

US beers are adjuncts, basically dumping grounds for the ubiquitous corn syrup that plagues everything in the US (because corn is cheap and barley is not). I have no idea why anyone would willingly drink American Budweiser or, even worse, Bud Lite (an implausible concept, surely).

I'm missing the many brewery taprooms of London, though we're keeping the delivery companies happy, not to mention the local micropub's takeaway, also not to mention Hop Stuff in Reigate which we always seem to be driving by at 8pm on Saturday.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: robgul on 27 August, 2020, 03:28:00 pm
Corona "beer" is taking a bit of a pasting - two YouTube videos take the biscuit - especially the second one with the American woman - which is, I understand, not a spoof . . . it was when the Trump convention was planning for Jacksonville.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phy4dwelKig

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN3qQDtv9dg   (an American classic)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: robgul on 27 August, 2020, 04:51:19 pm
Rob, specially for you - That Jacksonville Lady Wants You to Know She's "Not a Moron" (https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/interview-with-jacksonville-lady-who-made-viral-coronavirus-video-11628230).

Only in America!    I saw the original clip on, I think, something that branched off a CNN news item.

... sort of in the same arena  . . . . . .  I used to run the UK/Europe end of a US company (in the digital marketing sector) - at a meeting I was at in N California, about 2004/5,  there was some discussion about money and the effect of exchange rates on the business and my customers ... one of the newly appointed sales team from somewhere in the mid-West did not know/believe that there were other currencies beyond the US$ - not a joke, she really was that thick (unsurprisingly she only lasted about 6 weeks)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: hatler on 27 August, 2020, 05:19:07 pm
Just as well the conversation didn't turn to VAT. That fries most Murikans' brains.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 27 August, 2020, 06:11:58 pm
Just as well the conversation didn't turn to VAT. That fries most Murikans' brains.

Can't think why; most USAnian states have Sales Tax which isn’t included in the price displayed on the shelf.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: SoreTween on 27 August, 2020, 07:19:30 pm
Isn't the main appeal of industrial lagerpops that they don't taste much of anything at all?

People get easily confused by things that interfere with their tastebuds - distracts them from focusing their attention 100% on the football.
What's the matter lager boy, afraid you might taste something?
From memory as on teeny screen phone, apologies if quote not 100%
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 27 August, 2020, 07:45:25 pm
Just as well the conversation didn't turn to VAT. That fries most Murikans' brains.

Can't think why; most USAnian states have Sales Tax which isn’t included in the price displayed on the shelf.

I have had the discussion – mostly because, like most people, I'm bemused why the fuck they add on the sales tax at the end (and vary it by street) so you never know how much something will cost – a proportion of Americans think it's a secret socialist tax. How do you know how much if it's embedded in the price? they'll argue. Because it's a simple percentage, say I, and I can do elementary maths because I come from a country with schools.

Someone once argued with the fact that we have to pay it then. I don't think it's negotiatable in the US. Ah, but we can drive to a different state, he opined. Yeah, well, I could fly to a different country, but it's a bit much to save a few pence on a can of fizzy pop.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: cygnet on 27 August, 2020, 08:13:15 pm
20% is dead easy, 17.5% took a little more thought but still fairly straightforward.
The few times I've visited the US I've been amazed at how fast they can calculate Sales Tax + Tip from a bill. (To the cent when paying by card)
Which is far more complex than the above VAT rates
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 27 August, 2020, 08:22:28 pm
Thing is, I don't want to calculate it. It's there, I can't negotiate it away, that's the price. Once you've added the state tax, the city tax, the liquor tax, the food tax, the waitress's bad haircut stipend and the tip, the general price of everything is how fucking much?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: cygnet on 27 August, 2020, 08:29:12 pm
Back on topic, the office I used to work in has been open since the 5th and I've been there two days this week.

Dead quiet, but they are only now doing stuff to facilitate working there, that they have had months to plan for. I've been able to take advantage of the fact that it's quiet to make it known to appropriate people that there's even more stuff they need to solve.

Not going in tomorrow, I got "a bit damp" cycling home [/Fairweather commuter] 😁.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Feanor on 27 August, 2020, 08:38:01 pm
Because it's a simple percentage, say I, and I can do elementary maths because I come from a country with schools.

Mrs F remains bamboozled at how to back out tax percentages.

So I start with £100, and add 10% tax. That gives me £110.
To back it out, I just subtract 10%, right?
But when I do that I get the Wrong Answer!

Yes, 10% of £110 is a different amount to 10% of £100.

We've been through the maths many, many times. But it seems to be Deep Magic.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 27 August, 2020, 09:31:06 pm
Tax % ÷ (100% + tax%) x grand total, innit?
In your case 10 ÷ 110 x £110 = £10.

I have enough trouble trying to explain how to calculate 10% quickly to science graduates at work. Their minds seem blown by the concept of doing n x 0.1 rather than n x (10/100). Actually sorry, they probably really do n/100 x 10.
If I tried explaining the calculation above I don't think I'd get very far. Same as the concept of 'if this value equals 70%, what would 100% be? Divide by 0.7'

And as Pingu will testify from long hours helping me slave over my day release degree, I am shit at maths but these people seem to think I am some sort of magician.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 27 August, 2020, 09:38:55 pm
I am actually shit at maths (which is why I work in big data analytics) but I can do percentages.

Americans don't do it anyway, they're like tipping savants. Someone smiles at them and offers bottomless fries and they turn everything into a ticker-tape parade of dollar bills.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: robgul on 28 August, 2020, 07:55:08 am
Just as well the conversation didn't turn to VAT. That fries most Murikans' brains.

Can't think why; most USAnian states have Sales Tax which isn’t included in the price displayed on the shelf.

I have had the discussion – mostly because, like most people, I'm bemused why the fuck they add on the sales tax at the end (and vary it by street) so you never know how much something will cost – a proportion of Americans think it's a secret socialist tax. How do you know how much if it's embedded in the price? they'll argue. Because it's a simple percentage, say I, and I can do elementary maths because I come from a country with schools.

Someone once argued with the fact that we have to pay it then. I don't think it's negotiatable in the US. Ah, but we can drive to a different state, he opined. Yeah, well, I could fly to a different country, but it's a bit much to save a few pence on a can of fizzy pop.

I understand, from a former colleague in the US, that part of the reason for adding it on is that there are sometimes variables for specific local reasons - e.g. last time I was in NYC there was some sort of temporary reduction on the rate for clothing, and another temporary variation on resturant meals.

The variation by state is weird - was in Washington DC and the rate was X on clothing, drove 2 spits into Virginia to a massive shopping mall (Tysons Corner) and tax was about 25% lower - ditto variables in the New England states.    But then in the corners between France/Switzerland and France/Germany there is a massive influx of Swiss & Germans to French hypermarkets as prices and taxes are lower.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: giropaul on 28 August, 2020, 08:29:49 am
I like a decent lager, but it has to taste of something. Corona, as far as I recall, is tasteless (as are domestic US beers). Stella was outright nasty, I presume they brew it in the UK from concentrated gunk (basically add water and yeast). I don't remember Stella in Belgium tasting that bad. Possibly it's location, drinking piss-water local brews sitting with your legs dangling off the back of a catamaran in the Caribbean doesn't really translate to sitting by a radiator on a damp December evening in Surrey.

Stella in Belgium is brewed in Leuven, and is a totally different experience to the UK, brewed in Wales, Product.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 28 August, 2020, 08:59:14 am
Stella in Belgium is brewed in Leuven, and is a totally different experience to the UK, brewed in Wales, Product.

I wonder how much of that is down to genuine differences and how much is down to perception. A Swedish journalist conducted blind taste tests on the streets of Leuven and found that even supposed fans of Stella couldn't tell the difference between Stella and Jupiler and a crappy Swedish lager. There's really nothing special about Stella brewed in Leuven - it's still industrial lagerpop.

People persist in claiming that Guinness consumed in Dublin tastes different to Guinness drunk in London, even though they closed the Park Royal brewery some years ago and it all comes from Dublin now. There may be an argument for freshness, but since it is pasteurised keg beer, I'm not buying that.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 28 August, 2020, 09:33:09 am
Stella in Belgium is brewed in Leuven, and is a totally different experience to the UK, brewed in Wales, Product.

I wonder how much of that is down to genuine differences and how much is down to perception. Blind taste tests conducted on the streets of Leuven found that even supposed fans of Stella couldn't tell the difference between Stella and Jupiler. There's really nothing special about Stella brewed in Leuven - it's still industrial lagerpop.

People persist in claiming that Guinness consumed in Dublin tastes different to Guinness drunk in London, even though they closed the Park Royal brewery some years ago and it all comes from Dublin now. There may be an argument for freshness, but since it is pasteurised keg beer, I'm not buying that.

Guinness is just terrible everywhere, but I've been dragged to many, many places that 'serve the best Guinness' in other to convince me otherwise. It's been ineffective and it isn't improved by the American habit of stamping a shamrock into the head (one of the perils of living near Boston).

I'm willing to accept there's a difference between local and actual brewed stuff and the stuff that made remotely out of concentrate (more assembled than brewed), but like everything, there's perception. I did find some of the beer I drink in St Lucia but, by buying it, the holiday I didn't recreate. Not even with my feet in the bath in the heating turned up.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 28 August, 2020, 09:39:35 am
Guinness is just terrible everywhere

True that.

Although I obviously drank it and enjoyed it when I went to Dublin. Because that's what you do. Also because I didn't manage to find a pub serving anything else.

Quote
I did find some of the beer I drink in St Lucia but, by buying it, the holiday I didn't recreate. Not even with my feet in the bath in the heating turned up.

Ah, the classic trope of the local tipple that tastes great supped poolside on holiday but turns to lighter fuel when exposed to the UK climate...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 28 August, 2020, 09:41:54 am
Just as well the conversation didn't turn to VAT. That fries most Murikans' brains.

Can't think why; most USAnian states have Sales Tax which isn’t included in the price displayed on the shelf.

I have had the discussion – mostly because, like most people, I'm bemused why the fuck they add on the sales tax at the end (and vary it by street) so you never know how much something will cost – a proportion of Americans think it's a secret socialist tax. How do you know how much if it's embedded in the price? they'll argue. Because it's a simple percentage, say I, and I can do elementary maths because I come from a country with schools.

Someone once argued with the fact that we have to pay it then. I don't think it's negotiatable in the US. Ah, but we can drive to a different state, he opined. Yeah, well, I could fly to a different country, but it's a bit much to save a few pence on a can of fizzy pop.

I understand, from a former colleague in the US, that part of the reason for adding it on is that there are sometimes variables for specific local reasons - e.g. last time I was in NYC there was some sort of temporary reduction on the rate for clothing, and another temporary variation on resturant meals.

The variation by state is weird - was in Washington DC and the rate was X on clothing, drove 2 spits into Virginia to a massive shopping mall (Tysons Corner) and tax was about 25% lower - ditto variables in the New England states.    But then in the corners between France/Switzerland and France/Germany there is a massive influx of Swiss & Germans to French hypermarkets as prices and taxes are lower.

Every state has it's own rules (some states, like Delaware and New Hampshire, have no sales tax – in others it varies over different categories) and cities and municipalities (in some states, not all) can also have taxes added. Sometimes it's a local sales tax, other times you get odd stuff, like police levies. Then there's special taxes for alcohol and food. On top of that, many states have an annual sales tax holiday.

I lived near two state borders, and for anything with a tax differential, you'll notice the huge retail outlets that gather on either side. Plus more liberal opening hours, when I lived in CT, there was no booze on Sundays, but the good people of Massachussetts had found it was better to be drunk every day. Plus the tax was less.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 28 August, 2020, 11:22:41 am
The variation by state is weird - was in Washington DC and the rate was X on clothing, drove 2 spits into Virginia to a massive shopping mall (Tysons Corner) and tax was about 25% lower - ditto variables in the New England states.    But then in the corners between France/Switzerland and France/Germany there is a massive influx of Swiss & Germans to French hypermarkets as prices and taxes are lower.

When I was last in the area the bridges across the Mighty Colorado south of the Hoover Dam saw a good deal of use from Nevadan residents taking advantage of the much lower price of motor-spirit in Arizona.  Plus in those parts the casinos are in NV but the hotels in AZ.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jasmine on 28 August, 2020, 02:24:13 pm

Every state has it's own rules (some states, like Delaware and New Hampshire, have no sales tax – in others it varies over different categories) and cities and municipalities (in some states, not all) can also have taxes added. Sometimes it's a local sales tax, other times you get odd stuff, like police levies. Then there's special taxes for alcohol and food. On top of that, many states have an annual sales tax holiday.


I think Americans do this shit just to be contrary. It makes them feel like they have more control locally than they really do.

Oregon also has no sales tax, so it is possible to go to the shop with $10 and buy $10 worth of stuff, rather than desperately trying to add up items to $8.42 (and putting the loaf of bread back, because you've just realised it (a) costs $4 and (b) appears to be 150 calories a slice). Of course, Oregon's great foible is that you can't pump your own gas. Despite being told several times by my brother about this, habit forced me out of the car the on the first occasion of needing fuel, resulting in nearly being tackled to the floor by the gas station attendant. Once you get used to it, it's actually quite nice, you just sit there like a spare part. Of course, the first time you drive out of the state does require you to remember not to just sit there like a lemon.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: FifeingEejit on 28 August, 2020, 02:41:41 pm
The variation by state is weird - was in Washington DC and the rate was X on clothing, drove 2 spits into Virginia to a massive shopping mall (Tysons Corner) and tax was about 25% lower - ditto variables in the New England states.    But then in the corners between France/Switzerland and France/Germany there is a massive influx of Swiss & Germans to French hypermarkets as prices and taxes are lower.

It's a fair comparison, the level of Federating up to the Federation in the US is reasonably low, in some areas the theoretically Confederal EU has been granted more powers by its members than the US states have their federal government.

The major shopping market (https://goo.gl/maps/dnDwnMG5wHu8dNH17) for Basel however is in Germany not France, due to the differing political situation in relation to customs between France&Germany and Switzerland, there's a dedicated exit for Switzerland that leads consumers directly into Swiss customs car boot checks, and they check every boot.
The plaza was being rebuild when I was there, but you can get a decent look at it with a bit of clicking in streetview (Where many angles are also of it being rebuilt), the set up is such that vehicles entering Germany are slowed down, but those entering Switzerland have to stop.
They had no interest in pedestrians, so I guess if you want to smuggle toothpaste into Switzerland, then loading the lining of your jacket up spiv like is the way to do it.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: robgul on 28 August, 2020, 02:44:19 pm

Every state has it's own rules (some states, like Delaware and New Hampshire, have no sales tax – in others it varies over different categories) and cities and municipalities (in some states, not all) can also have taxes added. Sometimes it's a local sales tax, other times you get odd stuff, like police levies. Then there's special taxes for alcohol and food. On top of that, many states have an annual sales tax holiday.


I think Americans do this shit just to be contrary. It makes them feel like they have more control locally than they really do.

Oregon also has no sales tax, so it is possible to go to the shop with $10 and buy $10 worth of stuff, rather than desperately trying to add up items to $8.42 (and putting the loaf of bread back, because you've just realised it (a) costs $4 and (b) appears to be 150 calories a slice). Of course, Oregon's great foible is that you can't pump your own gas. Despite being told several times by my brother about this, habit forced me out of the car the on the first occasion of needing fuel, resulting in nearly being tackled to the floor by the gas station attendant. Once you get used to it, it's actually quite nice, you just sit there like a spare part. Of course, the first time you drive out of the state does require you to remember not to just sit there like a lemon.

Isn't this just what the US is - 48, 49, 50 or however many* states there are now each vying to be a "small, separate country"

* when I was at school it was 48 until Alaska joined - and I know that Hawaii is 50 (Book him Danno!) - I believe there are now more, or some "associated states"?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 28 August, 2020, 03:14:11 pm

Every state has it's own rules (some states, like Delaware and New Hampshire, have no sales tax – in others it varies over different categories) and cities and municipalities (in some states, not all) can also have taxes added. Sometimes it's a local sales tax, other times you get odd stuff, like police levies. Then there's special taxes for alcohol and food. On top of that, many states have an annual sales tax holiday.


I think Americans do this shit just to be contrary. It makes them feel like they have more control locally than they really do.

Oregon also has no sales tax, so it is possible to go to the shop with $10 and buy $10 worth of stuff, rather than desperately trying to add up items to $8.42 (and putting the loaf of bread back, because you've just realised it (a) costs $4 and (b) appears to be 150 calories a slice). Of course, Oregon's great foible is that you can't pump your own gas. Despite being told several times by my brother about this, habit forced me out of the car the on the first occasion of needing fuel, resulting in nearly being tackled to the floor by the gas station attendant. Once you get used to it, it's actually quite nice, you just sit there like a spare part. Of course, the first time you drive out of the state does require you to remember not to just sit there like a lemon.

Isn't this just what the US is - 48, 49, 50 or however many* states there are now each vying to be a "small, separate country"

* when I was at school it was 48 until Alaska joined - and I know that Hawaii is 50 (Book him Danno!) - I believe there are now more, or some "associated states"?

There are territories – Puerto Rico and Guam – where everyone is a US citizen but they don't have congressional voting rights (and other perks of statehood). Other likes American Samoa accord the residents have an American Nationals status (like we do with British Nationals) – I have no idea on their actual Constitutional status. Then there's Washington DC ('taxation without representation'). Puerto Rico is moderately likely to become the 51st state.

Oregon doesn't have a state sales tax, but cities and towns can set their own (though they generally don't). But they have a meals and booze tax (the last time we were there, they were having a holiday on this though, and cheap beer is something of a boon if you're visiting Oregon, though they make it back on the hotel room tax).

But yes, Americans love tax. Completing the infamous Federal and state 1040 forms (their income declarations) is an annual ceremony. Americans lock themselves in their houses and probably in nothing more than their underwear and a sheen of sweat, sort through shoe boxes of diligently retained receipts. I remember being berated because I hadn't kept every receipt ever. Or any of them since I'd been criminally unaware of tax declarations until that point.

NJ also doesn't let you fill up your own car with gas. For good reason, if you'd seen them drive you'd consider it likely they'd probably try drinking the gasoline (probably better than Olde English 800 admittedly). I've never filled my own car as I always used to fill up there rather than the more expensive NY or CT.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 28 August, 2020, 03:32:44 pm
I know that Hawaii is 50 (Book him Danno!)

I can't believe I never twigged this before but that's where "five-o" as slang for the police (as used in The Wire) comes from, isn't it?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 28 August, 2020, 03:43:53 pm
Yes, such was the impact of the TV show. Book him Danno! indeed.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jurek on 28 August, 2020, 06:32:43 pm
Off-topic slightly, but US territories such a Guam and Saipan have (or used to) allow US firms such as Levis to produce clothing using cheap (imported) Chinese labour, and have it tagged as 'Made in the USA'.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 28 August, 2020, 06:50:21 pm
Oregon also has no sales tax, so it is possible to go to the shop with $10 and buy $10 worth of stuff, rather than desperately trying to add up items to $8.42 (and putting the loaf of bread back, because you've just realised it (a) costs $4 and (b) appears to be 150 calories a slice). Of course, Oregon's great foible is that you can't pump your own gas. Despite being told several times by my brother about this, habit forced me out of the car the on the first occasion of needing fuel, resulting in nearly being tackled to the floor by the gas station attendant. Once you get used to it, it's actually quite nice, you just sit there like a spare part. Of course, the first time you drive out of the state does require you to remember not to just sit there like a lemon.

Rural counties of Oregon have allowed self-service motor-spirit pumps since 2018, but C19 has moved the goalposts.  https://geo.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=fe6b92d4da52481483898a871928588c (https://geo.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=fe6b92d4da52481483898a871928588c) refers, and mightily confusing it is too.

Noo Joisey is still 100% attended service but I've only driven about ten miles there so didn’t need to fill up.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Basil on 30 August, 2020, 03:38:28 pm
For the first time in five months, the church bells rang.  All six for a lovely half hour. Really missed them and I'm so glad they're back.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 07 September, 2020, 01:12:48 pm
Olga Tokarczuk in the New Yorker has pointed out that wearing a facemask is the first time people have got to smell their own breath. She describes it as a very intimate moment, maybe even shocking.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 07 September, 2020, 01:15:54 pm
Olga Tokarczuk in the New Yorker has pointed out that wearing a facemask is the first time people have got to smell their own breath. She describes it as a very intimate moment, maybe even shocking.

Must admit that it has made me question what I eat before I get on a train...

J
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: FifeingEejit on 07 September, 2020, 01:59:14 pm
Olga Tokarczuk in the New Yorker has pointed out that wearing a facemask is the first time people have got to smell their own breath. She describes it as a very intimate moment, maybe even shocking.
Not had this, it seems to just enhance my nasal congestion and pnd resulting in a coughing and snoting fit.

Not ideal in these times!
Does seem to get me all the space I could want though, hm...

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Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Greenbank on 21 September, 2020, 07:33:39 pm
Rumours of bog roll, coffee, flour and pasta/rice stockpiling again, for fear of another national lockdown. Idiots.

What's odd though is that I haven't been able to find any Ground Cumin in any of my 3 local Sainsbury's (local, big, huge) for the last month or so.

Poor harvests and bad weather in supplying countries I guess.

(I realise that my first world problem might be related to major problems in those supplying countries.)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: SteveC on 21 September, 2020, 08:51:45 pm
What's odd though is that I haven't been able to find any Ground Cumin in any of my 3 local Sainsbury's (local, big, huge) for the last month or so.
We've had the same problem while away on holiday. A medium sized Co-op had some though.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 21 September, 2020, 09:10:06 pm
Bought a 16-pack of bog roll last week, which should last at least until Easter :smug:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: PaulF on 22 September, 2020, 05:53:55 am
Rumours of bog roll, coffee, flour and pasta/rice stockpiling again, for fear of another national lockdown. Idiots.

What's odd though is that I haven't been able to find any Ground Cumin in any of my 3 local Sainsbury's (local, big, huge) for the last month or so.

Poor harvests and bad weather in supplying countries I guess.

(I realise that my first world problem might be related to major problems in those supplying countries.)

We had the same “problem” and were wondering how widespread it was. Had to resort to grinding cumin seeds. Truly a FWP.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jakob W on 22 September, 2020, 08:18:02 am
Rumours of bog roll, coffee, flour and pasta/rice stockpiling again, for fear of another national lockdown. Idiots.

Is this just another moral panic, with people adding another pack of loo roll and bag of pasta to their regular shops? Thought that was the major contributor to the shortages last time. 
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Polar Bear on 22 September, 2020, 08:32:42 am
Some people just don't get it.  They waddle out of the supermarket with two trolleys, one fullnof loo rolls, the other full of pasta, flour, hand sanitiser, etc., etc., etc.

I had the misfortune of having to pop into one such establishment briefly last week and in the half hour that I was there, twenty plus minutes of that in a checkout queue, the levels of panic buying was mind-boggling.

Guess it's time to pick up the extra bag of flour or pasta now on every visit.  🤔   Maybe not.  Stupid is as stupid does.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 23 September, 2020, 08:47:15 am
I've just found out that one of my colleagues is an ant-vaxxer and non-mask wearer...   :-\
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: De Sisti on 23 September, 2020, 01:37:12 pm
Back in March (just before the lockdown started) I was in a supermarket looking for loo roll.
A woman in the same aisle said she was shopping for loo rolls to add to her Brexit stockpile
of the stuff. :jurek:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: PaulF on 24 September, 2020, 09:48:21 am
Rumours of bog roll, coffee, flour and pasta/rice stockpiling again, for fear of another national lockdown. Idiots.

What's odd though is that I haven't been able to find any Ground Cumin in any of my 3 local Sainsbury's (local, big, huge) for the last month or so.

Poor harvests and bad weather in supplying countries I guess.

(I realise that my first world problem might be related to major problems in those supplying countries.)

We had the same “problem” and were wondering how widespread it was. Had to resort to grinding cumin seeds. Truly a FWP.


And we're saved! I found some in the local CO-OP
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 24 September, 2020, 10:52:46 am
Some people just don't get it.  They waddle out of the supermarket with two trolleys, one fullnof loo rolls, the other full of pasta, flour, hand sanitiser, etc., etc., etc.

I had the misfortune of having to pop into one such establishment briefly last week and in the half hour that I was there, twenty plus minutes of that in a checkout queue, the levels of panic buying was mind-boggling.


I don't understand why the supermarket tills aren't programmed to only allow one such item.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Polar Bear on 24 September, 2020, 12:19:57 pm
It's just good old British common sense in action.   

Chump has America First: in Britain we have Me First. 
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 24 September, 2020, 12:46:18 pm
I don't understand why the supermarket tills aren't programmed to only allow one such item.

To sell more items.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Peter on 24 September, 2020, 12:58:05 pm
Some people stocking up on loo rolls bog paper, others on cumin seeds - you don't need widening income deferential to see that the class war is not over!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 27 September, 2020, 10:37:58 am
Signs of normality: The first group of DoE students we’ve seen for a while walked down our lane this morning.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Peter on 28 September, 2020, 12:58:52 pm
Morrisons doing their bit:-

They have limited the amount of bog roll you can buy (no shit, Sherlock).  You can only buy 3 items.  Seems reasonable until you reach the checkout and find that you can't have 4 packets of 2 - but you can have 3 packets of 24.  I am not kidding.  Can only make matters worse.

(And of course, they leave the poor checkout staff to explain the unexplainable.)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 28 September, 2020, 03:30:52 pm
Since time immemorial, or at least Easter, we've been directed into Mr Sainsbury’s House of Toothy Comestibles via the right hand side of the main entrance.  They've changed it to the left since last Monday.  Wuffo they do that ???
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Canardly on 28 September, 2020, 05:16:54 pm
Arrival of mince pies innit.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: nicknack on 28 September, 2020, 05:25:30 pm
Arrival of mince pies innit.
Probably.
Aldi has loads of Christmas stuff now.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rogerzilla on 01 October, 2020, 02:19:19 pm
I took a frameset to Argos this morning.  Weird handover in a gazebo outside.  As with the rest of the bike business this year, they are very busy.  They turned a frame round in 3 weeks this time last year.  They said this one won't be done until 2021.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jurek on 01 October, 2020, 02:54:31 pm
Since time immemorial, or at least Easter, we've been directed into Mr Sainsbury’s House of Toothy Comestibles via the right hand side of the main entrance.  They've changed it to the left since last Monday.  Wuffo they do that ???
They did the same at my local one. There reason being is that most of the shop is to the left of the doors. If people were entering via the left door and exiting via the right one, then they'd be crossing each others paths. Entering via right and exiting via left encourages a one-way traffic loop.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 01 October, 2020, 09:09:07 pm
Since time immemorial, or at least Easter, we've been directed into Mr Sainsbury’s House of Toothy Comestibles via the right hand side of the main entrance.  They've changed it to the left since last Monday.  Wuffo they do that ???
They did the same at my local one. There reason being is that most of the shop is to the left of the doors. If people were entering via the left door and exiting via the right one, then they'd be crossing each others paths. Entering via right and exiting via left encourages a one-way traffic loop.

The foodie bit of mine, which sees most punters, is on the left of the doors too, so wuffo they switch from right-side entry to left ???
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Tim Hall on 01 October, 2020, 09:11:42 pm
Since time immemorial, or at least Easter, we've been directed into Mr Sainsbury’s House of Toothy Comestibles via the right hand side of the main entrance.  They've changed it to the left since last Monday.  Wuffo they do that ???
They did the same at my local one. There reason being is that most of the shop is to the left of the doors. If people were entering via the left door and exiting via the right one, then they'd be crossing each others paths. Entering via right and exiting via left encourages a one-way traffic loop.
They've done that in the Crawley one. This means there is a crossover just inside the store, as the tills exit nearer to the now de facto entrance. Thought of but not through as my old boss would say.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: fuzzy on 01 October, 2020, 10:53:10 pm
Since time immemorial, or at least Easter, we've been directed into Mr Sainsbury’s House of Toothy Comestibles via the right hand side of the main entrance.  They've changed it to the left since last Monday.  Wuffo they do that ???

Equalising the wear on the flooring?

Inclusive entrancing? Perhaps the left sided innies stuck in a litigation threat?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 01 October, 2020, 11:06:16 pm
Since time immemorial, or at least Easter, we've been directed into Mr Sainsbury’s House of Toothy Comestibles via the right hand side of the main entrance.  They've changed it to the left since last Monday.  Wuffo they do that ???

Equalising the wear on the flooring?

If there's an escalator/travelator, reversing the polarity would even out the chain wear.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: robgul on 02 October, 2020, 08:46:52 am
Since time immemorial, or at least Easter, we've been directed into Mr Sainsbury’s House of Toothy Comestibles via the right hand side of the main entrance.  They've changed it to the left since last Monday.  Wuffo they do that ???
They did the same at my local one. There reason being is that most of the shop is to the left of the doors. If people were entering via the left door and exiting via the right one, then they'd be crossing each others paths. Entering via right and exiting via left encourages a one-way traffic loop.
They've done that in the Crawley one. This means there is a crossover just inside the store, as the tills exit nearer to the now de facto entrance. Thought of but not through as my old boss would say.

.... I was quite impressed when I made a rare trip to our local Aldi the other day (Mrs robgul is the shopper in our household) - the in/out doors are placed logically for the flow - but what was clever was a counter on the entrance door that activated a red/green traffic light system (and de-activated the door) to control numbers in the store. 
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 02 October, 2020, 08:52:56 am
Since time immemorial, or at least Easter, we've been directed into Mr Sainsbury’s House of Toothy Comestibles via the right hand side of the main entrance.  They've changed it to the left since last Monday.  Wuffo they do that ???

Equalising the wear on the flooring?

If there's an escalator/travelator, reversing the polarity would even out the chain wear.
I have cancelled my flight to the UK next month. The airline has just reorganised its flight schedule and now wants me to do the return flight first and then the outward bound flight the same day, only 25 minutes after I land.
Sounds like the airline is equalising the wear on the turbines...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: phantasmagoriana on 14 October, 2020, 03:27:39 pm
Seen on the student halls of residence a few streets away:

(https://i.ibb.co/9rx0H59/IMG-2513.jpg) (https://ibb.co/kSLT2Cg)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Greenbank on 14 October, 2020, 03:30:52 pm
We sent beer to 4 of our nephews who are at various stages of their degrees (final year, 2nd year and two 1st years).
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 14 October, 2020, 05:09:13 pm
Seen on the student halls of residence a few streets away:

(https://i.ibb.co/9rx0H59/IMG-2513.jpg) (https://ibb.co/kSLT2Cg)

Looks like they could do with a heating engineer, too.  That pressure relief valve is dribbling...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rafletcher on 14 October, 2020, 08:07:30 pm
I took it for a toilet overflow (old style cistern). 
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ElyDave on 14 October, 2020, 08:44:20 pm
Looks like a blow down valve to me
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 14 October, 2020, 08:56:05 pm
Students. More like they couldn't find the toilet. Or the building door. Back in the student era, we lost a flatmate for an entire week after a Friday afternoon drinking sessions. Then the following Friday evening as we staggered home, there he was on the sofa, wearing the same clothes and a faraway look, and all he could mutter was 'Bootle.'
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: spesh on 14 October, 2020, 08:57:12 pm
Students. More like they couldn't find the toilet. Or the building door. Back in the student era, we lost a flatmate for an entire week after a Friday afternoon drinking sessions. Then the following Friday evening as we staggered home, there he was on the sofa, wearing the same clothes and a faraway look, and all he could mutter was 'Bootle.'

Followed by rubbing his head, murmuring "The horror... "?  :demon:
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Feanor on 14 October, 2020, 09:06:05 pm
Looks like a blow down valve to me

The metal pipe to the left looks like a gas supply to me.
It also tees off into the flat above.

So yes, I think some kind of gas fired appliance venting probably due to a borked expansion vessel or similar.

I don't see a gas flue anywhere, but it could be around the side out of sight.
The vent I can see looks to be an extractor outlet.

But I'd have expected a big student halls of residence to have a centralised heating / HW system, not a boiler in every flat!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: andrewc on 14 October, 2020, 10:18:05 pm
Students. More like they couldn't find the toilet. Or the building door. Back in the student era, we lost a flatmate for an entire week after a Friday afternoon drinking sessions. Then the following Friday evening as we staggered home, there he was on the sofa, wearing the same clothes and a faraway look, and all he could mutter was 'Bootle.'

Followed by rubbing his head, murmuring "The horror... "?  :demon:


No , that would be  Cantril Farm  Stockbridge Village..  :jurek:     An estate so bad they had to rename it.....
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 15 October, 2020, 12:57:43 am
But I'd have expected a big student halls of residence to have a centralised heating / HW system, not a boiler in every flat!

My one year in halls was equipped with such.  I assume there was some kind of lowest-bidder economics reason that made sense at the time[1].  It did mean that we got an airing cupboard with boiler and hot water cylinder in which $housemate could dry his pants, ultimately leading to a morning o'clock encounter with naked $housemate who hadn't noticed I was crouched down rummaging in the fridge when he made a dash across the communal area to retrieve them.


[1] As the hall had a disproportionate number of disabled and international students, perhaps this made sense in the context of a subset of flats being occupied outside of term time?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 15 October, 2020, 01:06:53 am
Students. More like they couldn't find the toilet. Or the building door. Back in the student era, we lost a flatmate for an entire week after a Friday afternoon drinking sessions. Then the following Friday evening as we staggered home, there he was on the sofa, wearing the same clothes and a faraway look, and all he could mutter was 'Bootle.'

The Penniless Student Oaves of the University of Liverpool Velocipede Team manage to lose all sorts of things in the mean streets of Battle Mountain.  A cheque for three hundred dollars*, for example, and people.  We did find him eventually.  Face down, shirtless and asleep in a flower bed outside the Maverik “gas” station.

* although to be fair the loser of the cheque wasn’t actually a student, and another Penniless Student Oaf from a different team found it and gave it back.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 15 October, 2020, 11:34:12 am

My one year in halls was equipped with such.  I assume there was some kind of lowest-bidder economics reason that made sense at the time[1].  It did mean that we got an airing cupboard with boiler and hot water cylinder in which $housemate could dry his pants, ultimately leading to a morning o'clock encounter with naked $housemate who hadn't noticed I was crouched down rummaging in the fridge when he made a dash across the communal area to retrieve them.


Depends how they building is designed. In some cases the design is such that if the uni goes tits up, or some such the building can easily be sold off as private flats. In which case the one boiler per flat is simpler.

The accommodation I had on campus in the first year at uni was a house rather than flats, and there had been the explicit aim when they were built that if necessary they could be sold off as private housing in the future, and were designed accordingly.

J
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 15 October, 2020, 11:37:47 am
Leaving aside student plumbing arrangements to get back to the lockdown topic...

I wore a shirt to work yesterday. First time in six months. Had a client meeting, so thought I'd make a token effort - at least for the top half. Naked from the waist down, obviously. They don't normally let me out of the office (or rather my WFH dungeon) so the only time I ever get to meet the client is on the rare occasions they come to visit us. Quite the novelty.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 15 October, 2020, 11:39:47 am
Naked from the waist down, obviously.

The term for that is Winnie the Pooh style...

J
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 15 October, 2020, 01:03:25 pm
The term for that is Winnie the Pooh style...

Of course! And I am a bear of little brain...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Regulator on 15 October, 2020, 02:06:21 pm
Leaving aside student plumbing arrangements to get back to the lockdown topic...

I wore a shirt to work yesterday. First time in six months. Had a client meeting, so thought I'd make a token effort - at least for the top half. Naked from the waist down, obviously. They don't normally let me out of the office (or rather my WFH dungeon) so the only time I ever get to meet the client is on the rare occasions they come to visit us. Quite the novelty.

I attended a formal virtual conference Zoom yesterday.  I actually ironed and wore a work shirt for the first time in 8 months...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 15 October, 2020, 02:17:34 pm
I draw the line at ironing.  ;D
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 16 October, 2020, 06:22:51 pm
Quueueue to get into Mr Sainsbury’s House of Toothy Comestibles this arvo.  If I'd have known I'd have taken my Kindle :'(
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: cygnet on 16 October, 2020, 11:04:55 pm

My one year in halls was equipped with such.  I assume there was some kind of lowest-bidder economics reason that made sense at the time[1].  It did mean that we got an airing cupboard with boiler and hot water cylinder in which $housemate could dry his pants, ultimately leading to a morning o'clock encounter with naked $housemate who hadn't noticed I was crouched down rummaging in the fridge when he made a dash across the communal area to retrieve them.


Depends how they building is designed. In some cases the design is such that if the uni goes tits up, or some such the building can easily be sold off as private flats. In which case the one boiler per flat is simpler.

The accommodation I had on campus in the first year at uni was a house rather than flats, and there had been the explicit aim when they were built that if necessary they could be sold off as private housing in the future, and were designed accordingly.

J

I understand that the cost "problem" of providing this additional infrastructure has now been solved, and that should the shit hit the student housing money tree fan, there is now an alternative revenue path called Co-Housing, selling you exactly the same accomodation with a post-graduate price tag.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Ashaman42 on 16 October, 2020, 11:23:03 pm
I guess there's also a logic of a single boiler failure affecting a half dozen students rather than the entire halls. Though are big building wide boilers more robust?
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 16 October, 2020, 11:33:48 pm
On Lock-down. I come from a Medium Risk area. Is that a Tier?

I've just passed through 2 or 3 Tier 3 areas, depending on which mayor/PM you listen to.

I'm off to somewhere that currently doesn't have Tiers.

The app I have been using doesn't work here. I'm in Hamilton. (No, not the musical  >:( )
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 16 October, 2020, 11:41:26 pm
I guess there's also a logic of a single boiler failure affecting a half dozen students rather than the entire halls. Though are big building wide boilers more robust?

AIUI big building boilers share the load between more than one unit, so (depending on how demand and how much redundancy has been designed in) you can have normal or half-arsed heating on n-1 units while one is being repaired.  Which, because this is BRITAIN, means you don't have to bother repairing it.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: FifeingEejit on 16 October, 2020, 11:47:10 pm
On Lock-down. I come from a Medium Risk area. Is that a Tier?

I've just passed through 2 or 3 Tier 3 areas, depending on which mayor/PM you listen to.

I'm off to somewhere that currently doesn't have Tiers.

The app I have been using doesn't work here. I'm in Hamilton. (No, not the musical  >:( )
Ooft you could at least of used its posh name of Cadzow.

(I'm going to need to petition swift key to add yough to the keyboard since I've very clearly got Scots as one of the languages)

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: rr on 17 October, 2020, 01:02:52 am
I attended virtual court today, suit from the waist up.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 18 October, 2020, 07:01:12 pm
On Lock-down. I come from a Medium Risk area. Is that a Tier?

I've just passed through 2 or 3 Tier 3 areas, depending on which mayor/PM you listen to.

I'm off to somewhere that currently doesn't have Tiers.

The app I have been using doesn't work here. I'm in Hamilton. (No, not the musical  >:( )
There'll be tiers before bedtime.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Basil on 18 October, 2020, 07:31:09 pm
The tiers of a clown.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: robgul on 19 October, 2020, 08:04:34 am
The tiers of a clown.

That was the expression that John Crace used in an opinion piece in The Graun one day last week! - are you admitting to be a Graun reader??   

[I only look at it online, no subscription, and do not inhale]
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Greenbank on 19 October, 2020, 08:27:32 am
On Lock-down. I come from a Medium Risk area. Is that a Tier?

I've just passed through 2 or 3 Tier 3 areas, depending on which mayor/PM you listen to.

I'm off to somewhere that currently doesn't have Tiers.

The app I have been using doesn't work here. I'm in Hamilton. (No, not the musical  >:( )

The tiers were obviously originally done by a developer:-

Tier 1 = Medium
Tier 2 = High
Tier 3 = Very High

That, of course, means that when we get back to "Low" it'll be Tier 0 and then they'll retrospectively put "None" as Tier -1 when the virus is all but gone due to worldwide vaccination.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Basil on 19 October, 2020, 08:37:39 am
The tiers of a clown.

That was the expression that John Crace used in an opinion piece in The Graun one day last week! - are you admitting to be a Graun reader??   

[I only look at it online, no subscription, and do not inhale]

I am a Grauniad reader but thought I'd made up the expression myself.  :facepalm:
In fact I mentioned to Mrs B last night that I was surprised that no newspaper had used it as a headline.
Oh well.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: L CC on 19 October, 2020, 08:39:10 am
On Lock-down. I come from a Medium Risk area. Is that a Tier?

I've just passed through 2 or 3 Tier 3 areas, depending on which mayor/PM you listen to.

I'm off to somewhere that currently doesn't have Tiers.

The app I have been using doesn't work here. I'm in Hamilton. (No, not the musical  >:( )

The tiers were obviously originally done by a developer:-

Tier 1 = Medium
Tier 2 = High
Tier 3 = Very High

That, of course, means that when we get back to "Low" it'll be Tier 0 and then they'll retrospectively put "None" as Tier -1 when the virus is all but gone due to worldwide vaccination.
I thought it was takeaway coffee speak.
Tier 1 - Grande
Tier 2 - Immense
Tier 3 - Bucket


Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: phantasmagoriana on 19 October, 2020, 12:46:59 pm
Looks like a blow down valve to me

The metal pipe to the left looks like a gas supply to me.
It also tees off into the flat above.

So yes, I think some kind of gas fired appliance venting probably due to a borked expansion vessel or similar.

I don't see a gas flue anywhere, but it could be around the side out of sight.
The vent I can see looks to be an extractor outlet.

But I'd have expected a big student halls of residence to have a centralised heating / HW system, not a boiler in every flat!

At £155 per week (which is what these particular rooms cost) I'd want my very own boiler! :P
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: cygnet on 19 October, 2020, 07:20:06 pm
At £155 per week (which is what these particular rooms cost) I'd want my very own boiler! :P

Don't look at the prices in that London then:
https://uk.urbanest.com/locations/westminster-bridge/ (https://uk.urbanest.com/locations/westminster-bridge/)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Greenbank on 19 October, 2020, 07:41:10 pm
I pass that urbanest on my commute (when I used to commute) and I've always wondered what the facilities and prices were like.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Morat on 20 October, 2020, 11:20:05 am
I've been increasing my trips into work recently as some IT things can't be done remotely (mainly unwrapping new kit and plugging it in).
There are 4 of us on my floor in three offices and the others all walk through my office to make tea in the kitchen - two of them tested positive last week and I felt bad enough to get a test, which came back negative. Hurrah.
So, I'm on holiday now and will be taking "Working from home where possible" very seriously indeed.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 03 November, 2020, 10:16:01 am
It would ordinarily be with horror that I'd look to find the zip on my trousers spontaneously sundered and recoil in mortal embarrassment at the thought of a subsequent pageant of my purple pants through the open plan office.

But I'm working at home, so I don't care. Best not stand up during a meeting though. Or I could just go and put a different pair of trousers on. But upstairs. So far.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Jaded on 03 November, 2020, 11:09:19 am
You certainly don't want to be accused of a puce self-pleasuring exposure.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Kim on 05 November, 2020, 01:08:42 pm
Barakta is on a video[1] call with a blind colleague.  Their guide dog keeps popping up at the bottom of the frame as if to help...


[1] It's easier to lipread a video.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: phantasmagoriana on 05 November, 2020, 01:15:50 pm
My Halloween melon (I couldn't find a pumpkin: my strategy of waiting until October 30th so the pumpkin would be "fresh" failed spectacularly) featured on one of my partner's Zoom calls the other day. ??? (It's since gone in the bin, because it was going furry.)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: T42 on 14 November, 2020, 10:14:36 am
Our government has obliged small "non-essential" shops to close and, in response to the outcry from the small traders, has in turn obliged the big supermarket chains to stop selling "non-essential" items.  The chains have responded by putting people on furlough: Carrefour has just announced 90,000 temporary redundancies, saying, more or less, that if the government forces down their turnover they can bloody well pick up the bill.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: quixoticgeek on 19 November, 2020, 10:19:31 am

We did a big supermarket home delivery order. over €200 worth (to feed 2 people for hopefully 4 weeks).

The delivery slot was 1600-2100.

On the morning of the delivery we get an email, roughly translated it read:

"We are now allowed to sell alcohol after 2000, if your delivery slot includes time after 2000, we won't include alcohol in your order. You won't be charged for the alcohol"

Which means all the wine and cider and beer wasn't delivered. Which is a pain, as I bought the wine and cider to cook with. I have the rest of the ingredients :( Will see if I can get a delivery slot for next week in the day time and just order enough alcohol to get a min order...

J
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 23 November, 2020, 09:44:32 pm
Quote
Staff at The Range have been left outraged after claiming the retailer has introduced freezers into two of their Bristol stores to ensure they'd be classified as an "essential business" and remain open during the coronavirus lockdown.

Previously only the Stoke Gifford branch would have been considered "essential" as it sold Iceland frozen food, due to the partnership between retailers, but within recent weeks, stores at Avonmeads and in Hartcliffe have followed suit.
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/anger-range-staff-claim-freezers-4000387
I've never been to the Range and don't really know what it sells, but clearly they've got the message; stock a bit of food and then you can sell whatever else you want. And do click and collect.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: grams on 23 November, 2020, 09:54:53 pm
The rules allow "hardware stores" to remain open but "homeware stores" must close. The Range mostly sells household tat but bits of it must edge into the hardware category.

Even forbidden retailers are allowed to do click-and-collect, regardless of what they sell.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 23 November, 2020, 10:13:01 pm
We've been having a family discussion about the definition of self-isolation this evening.

The boy's girlfriend is currently working in the Netherlands but planning to come home for two weeks over Christmas. But her parents don't want her at their place because her mum is a GP. We've said it's OK for her to come here, and luckily we have an annex where she can be isolated in relative comfort and freedom to move around. The boy is planning to "isolate" with her, but I'm trying to get my head round whether or not that is within the rules. Maybe I should say it's fine as long as they stay 2m apart at all times.  ;D

Mostly I'm concerned that he avoids doing anything to compromise his ability to go back to work (teaching) after the Christmas break.

Also wondering about the logistics of Christmas dinner. We'll have to send it through to the annex in sealed disinfected containers. And make some kind of glory hole to facilitate the pulling of crackers.

I also raised the matter of what's going to happen when she wants to go back to the Netherlands in January, seeing as the borders will be completely screwed up by then.

Christmas 2020 style. It's going to be a hoot.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: grams on 23 November, 2020, 10:23:03 pm
I'm not sure there's anyone left in the country who's not operating on rules that vaguely resemble whatever the real rules are, are sort of within the spirit of them, but completely against the letter of them, and happen to let them do pretty much what they were planning to do anyway.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 23 November, 2020, 10:30:59 pm
I also raised the matter of what's going to happen when she wants to go back to the Netherlands in January, seeing as the borders will be completely screwed up by then.
That's easy. She'll have to self-isolate for 14 days. But as it will take at least 15 days to get through customs, this is not a problem.  ;)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 23 November, 2020, 11:07:13 pm
I'm not sure there's anyone left in the country who's not operating on rules that vaguely resemble whatever the real rules are, are sort of within the spirit of them, but completely against the letter of them, and happen to let them do pretty much what they were planning to do anyway.

Yep, that sounds about right.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 23 November, 2020, 11:08:31 pm
That's easy. She'll have to self-isolate for 14 days. But as it will take at least 15 days to get through customs, this is not a problem.  ;)

That's not even funny.

 ;D
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 28 November, 2020, 08:30:49 pm
Something is a bit broken, I remember a time when on a Friday evening I'd be in the local pub*. Now I'm perusing wellington boots and it's not even a weird rubber sex fetish, it's practicality. I have beer I suppose.

I'm only doing this on protest, I pulled my current boots in the car earlier and my wife issued a simple OH NO! It's true they issued an olfactory high crime, the sort of mephitic punch to the nose that was only partly solved by flinging the offending items out of the car window. That left my feet, which are not so easy to dispose of, fortunately. Fair put us off our post-walk Bakewell tarts. Death by Camembert.

I'd also like to thank whoever splattered our car with mud. I know such car parks are famed for the pseudo-canine walking antics, but I think someone may have fucked a swamp next to our car.

Anyway, it's the capitalist consumer nightmare, confusing array of variety. I say bring back communism, where you have the choice of rubber boot number 5 and rubber boot number 8 and the latter isn't available. Is it even reasonable to buy French wellies (notably and defiantly only ever called rubber boots)? And £200 for a wellies, do they come with a shotgun and membership of the royal family? If not, they should.

On the plus side, despite not getting any younger, I still like nothing better than jumping into muddy puddles.

*admittedly, this task would have become fraught, my boss's new boss, it turns out, frequents the same little micropub...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 28 November, 2020, 10:46:23 pm
I would say Ilse Jacobsen but I don't know if they do wellies for chaps
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 29 November, 2020, 05:20:41 pm
My wife has some Frenchy Aigle ones that she quite likes. Anyway, I have to get new ones, since she's just put my existing ones in the bin. The left boot was leaking anyway because I kicked a thorn. Only I can get a puncture while walking.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Mr Larrington on 30 November, 2020, 12:52:43 pm
So having, earlier in the Coronalurgi unpleasantness, switched the egress from the right side of the main doors to the left, Mr Sainsbury’s House of Toothy Comestibles has since last Thursday changed it back.  Ur messin' wif my head, man ???
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: barakta on 30 November, 2020, 03:59:46 pm
Lots of supermarkets have completely failed to think about blind or disabled customers in their moving stuff around shenanigans. I've seen some where it's too narrow for people to get through... Or sends people walking lot of extra distance...

I'm not even sure how much it helps given people mingle inside... Ventilation probably helps more than one-waying...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 30 November, 2020, 07:41:59 pm
Isn't the reason supermarkets move things around to confuse people every once in a while and get them to walk past items they don't normally pay attention to? The one-way systems can't be designed without at least half an eye on the sales possibilities too. Not that people generally pay any attention to them.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Polar Bear on 30 November, 2020, 08:36:32 pm
Lots of supermarkets have completely failed to think about blind or disabled customers in their moving stuff around shenanigans. I've seen some where it's too narrow for people to get through... Or sends people walking lot of extra distance...

I'm not even sure how much it helps given people mingle inside... Ventilation probably helps more than one-waying...

Indeed.

The moving stuff about malarkey is entirely because people quickly learn their optimum route through the store thus not being distracted by opportunities that they have already seen and decided against.  Three to six months usually.

It is a right royal pain in the capitalist...
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 04 December, 2020, 06:11:34 pm
In the street this morning I totally failed to recognize a woman I've seen every week for the past three months or so, because for the first time, she wasn't wearing a mask. Normally this is an experience only familiar to those who attend Roger's Special Parties, but in this case, she was a chazzer co-volly.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: ian on 04 December, 2020, 08:10:04 pm
I know, it's pretty awful. I've had to go back to identifying women by their breasts. Some skills don't age.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 30 December, 2020, 09:43:21 pm
(https://cdn.road.cc/sites/default/files/styles/main_width/public/protect-and-survive-2-hm-government.PNG)
Quote
I remember the last time we were all going to die... it's a bit like Groundhog Day of the Dead
https://road.cc/content/blog/groundhog-day-dead-279751
Vecchio Jo on Corona vs Cold War.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: TheLurker on 31 December, 2020, 10:32:43 am
Crikey, tea-chests.  Don't see many of those around these days.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: slope on 31 December, 2020, 11:03:00 am
Living halfway in terms of road miles betwixt the shopping meccas of Porthmadog and Llanberis and now after 7+ years of sole recourse to bicycling, I've succumbed and bought a wee Berlingo van (which reminds me of a blissful early 70s era owning several Morris Minor vans).

So yesterday I decided to head to Llanberis Spar for vittels. Driving 'Up the Gwynant' I passed 2 cop cars. Another was parked at the Pen Y Gwryd Hotel. Two more passed me in both directions just over the brow at Pen Y Pass. A further one was engaging with some decidedly un-local looking folks parked up in the lay-by at Pont Cromlech.

As I passed the 30mph sign into Nant Peris a huge cop wagon sped up to catch and tailgate me, filling the rear view mirror with menace. There was plenty of opportunity for overtaking, but no, it clung to my rear bumper. Figured it was a matter if time before I was going to be "pulled", but then it eventually decided to pass at great speed, still in the 30mph zone, with no intention of stopping it seemed.

The funny thing was, as it accelerated by it flashed its blue lights, just the once, like you do when a friendly overtaker thanks you with a single flash of their hazard lights, as a sign of appreciation for you slowing down to let them overtake? Perhaps it was just a clumsy oops, knocking the wrong knob type error? Or was it a deliberate 'sign' to me, cos they'd run a check on the number plate and discovered it's registered to a local - and so as to say, you’re ok mate, carry on as normal?

On the way home I saw 4 more cop cars and the one which tailgated me twice more. The final time it was parked, top and tailed alongside another having an elbows out the windows chat in the Gwynant Snowdon viewpoint car park. I thought about waving but didn't want to push my luck.

Going to play it safe today and cycle into the wonderful village siop in Beddgelert (which doesn't currently have the curly kale I so wanted yesterday, hence the trip to the unusually well stocked Spar in Llanberis)
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: hatler on 31 December, 2020, 11:09:43 am
"Or was it a deliberate 'sign' to me, cos they'd run a check on the number plate and discovered it's registered to a local - and so as to say, you’re ok mate, carry on as normal?"

That would be my take.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 31 December, 2020, 11:14:53 am
"Or was it a deliberate 'sign' to me, cos they'd run a check on the number plate and discovered it's registered to a local - and so as to say, you’re ok mate, carry on as normal?"

That would be my take.

Yes, mine too.

I would find that a bit unsettling though.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 31 December, 2020, 11:30:02 am
Several years ago, a group of friends were riding along the A4 near Avebury at about 2am. A police car came up, drove level with them for a couple of seconds, then sped off giving them one single blue flash. They took as a sign that 'What you're doing is a bit odd but you all seem to know what you're doing, have decent lights etc, don't look like hippies or travellers or stone-huggers, so you're okay by us.'
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: citoyen on 31 December, 2020, 12:44:24 pm
... but be aware that we’ve got our eye on you just in case.
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 31 December, 2020, 01:03:15 pm
Yeah, that too!
Title: Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
Post by: Efrogwr on 31 December, 2020, 10:23:20 pm
I had a similar experience to Slope's a few weeks ago. I was going to Caernarfon in Eminor's car, which has a Liverpool registration. The cops turned away from their intended route and followed me for a couple of miles, until it was posslble to turn round and resume their original route.