... the hungry hoard ...
Maybe the hungry horde will want some of your hoard.
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.
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.... the hungry hoard ...
Maybe the hungry horde will want some of your hoard.
As long as the hungry whores aren't involved...
Will be going online to buy seeds & stuff fairly shortly.
... the hungry hoard ...
Maybe the hungry horde will want some of your hoard.
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.
Make wild garlic risotto & salad with the leaves & flowers :)
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
Its 1pm and I'm still in my dressing-gown.
I have, however, done a full day's work.
Its 1pm and I'm still in my dressing-gown.
I have, however, done a full day's work.
We don't want to truss you either. :demon: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:
Make wild garlic risotto & salad with the leaves & flowers :)Wild garlic pesto. Pure dead brulliant so it is.
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.
Never understood people eating garlic for pleasure - or at all. Instant social-distancing.
That bell shaped flower is not what I believe to be wild garlic
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).
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.
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.
Huh, I'd read that it preferred to grow under trees as well.
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).
wild garlic in my omlette this morningWe 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.
I think the veg patch is going to become higher profile this year
wild garlic in my omlette this morningWe 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.
I think the veg patch is going to become higher profile this year
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.
(they probably use something like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDzEaqWeFGk&t=1s))
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.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.
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)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)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!
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.'
they don't give you botany degree unless you know this stuff
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.’”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-52088987#That's class.
Early entry for the Man of the Year Award from this chap on an "essential" errand.
I don't think repeat laps of Forehill, Ely will be quite the same
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/
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.
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.
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
Bolsonaro, Trump, Lukašenko, Modi, Orban.
Fuckers.
, 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.
Bolsonaro, Trump, Lukašenko, Modi, Orban.
Fuckers.
I will add Johnson, Cummings and Gove to that list.
Bolsonaro, Trump, Lukašenko, Modi, Orban, Berdymukhammedov.Yes, but Modi and Orban are the odd ones out in that they don't deny it exists.
Fuckers.
Trump has changed his tune. Someone must have pointed to a graph that isn’t sloping upwards.Bolsonaro, Trump, Lukašenko, Modi, Orban, Berdymukhammedov.Yes, but Modi and Orban are the odd ones out in that they don't deny it exists.
Fuckers.
(https://ipravda.sk/res/2020/03/28/thumbs/alexander-lukasenko-clanokW.png)Jeezus ::-)
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.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 will only be doing this to support local businesses.
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.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.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 will only be doing this to support local businesses.
Working from Home, I got bored during an interminable Teams video conference and started doodling like I did at school.I'm no artist, but I think that's rather good! (I'll leave the other 2, sorry ... )
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
Working from Home, I got bored during an interminable Teams video conference and started doodling like I did at school.I'm no artist, but I think that's rather good! (I'll leave the other 2, sorry ... )
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
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.
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.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 will only be doing this to support local businesses.
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.
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.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 will only be doing this to support local businesses.
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.
I've added another item to the Lock-Down list...
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.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 will only be doing this to support local businesses.
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'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)
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.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 will only be doing this to support local businesses.
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?
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
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.
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...
Corona beer stops production. (https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/03/business/corona-beer-production/index.html)
There is so little traffic at 7pm that, if you fart outside, the neighbours can hear it.
Zwift overloaded, methinks - tried a 1 hour ride this morning and had numerous dropouts and glitches. >:(
I think I'll try BigRingVR next...
Roe deer seen wandering across the Place Mazelle in the middle of Metz.They'd probably read about the goats in Llandudno.
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
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'd never thought of that. Excellent point!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 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.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).
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.
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?
One of our neighbours is a flautist. With so little traffic we heard the whole of their practise.
That was really rather nice.
I remember doing some work round at the house of my Head of Department whilst studying for my degree.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.
Choose your avatar/character for lockdownI'm the one in the vest, with the splitting maul.
https://twitter.com/djbaskin/status/1246637822959693825?s=19
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.
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. :(
One of our neighbours is a flautist. With so little traffic we heard the whole of their practise.You wouldn't be saying that for a violin.
That was really rather nice.
You a friend of Prince Andrew then?One of our neighbours is a flautist. With so little traffic we heard the whole of their practise.You wouldn't be saying that for a violin.
That was really rather nice.
(unless they're very good, i should add! Didn't mean to upset competent fiddlers :hand: )
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!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 ☹️
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?
One of our neighbours is a flautist. With so little traffic we heard the whole of their practise.I did my final exams to the sound of the royal college of music orchestra practicing, they were good and rather loud.
That was really rather nice.
It's weird being in federal Germany with all the different rules.
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
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.
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
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 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...
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'llenact it draw it.
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.
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
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
To be fair, you can look a bit scary at timesIs that a box of Celebrations on top of the cupboard?
(http://www.alfiecat.co.uk/yetacf/roger-chainwhip.jpg)
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?
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?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 did she get the nod in the last honours list and is now Dame @%$*!?No, you're getting that one confused with Roger's regular panto role.
The possibilities are literally endless!
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..
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?
The whole flour thing is amazing with so many people presumably trying their hand at baking.
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.
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.
Better lay in a can of Lemon Pledge for reading in the garden.
Will I get this reference when I've read the book?
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.
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
So why the hell am I unable to motivate myself to take advantage of all the time off I have and the quiet roads?
I know I'd said I'd stop.:thumbsup:
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
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
A nice beaver next, please Ron
And then a pair of great tits.
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
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)
I don't think Rob likes Frank very much.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*.
Seals are also dog mermaidsBut here's another sketch. It's more than a doodle, I spent some time over this one.Great picture. But otters are just wet cats. True fact.
(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
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
I don't think Rob likes Frank very much.
Seals are also dog mermaidsBut here's another sketch. It's more than a doodle, I spent some time over this one.Great picture. But otters are just wet cats. True fact.
(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
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 mermaidsBut here's another sketch. It's more than a doodle, I spent some time over this one.Great picture. But otters are just wet cats. True fact.
(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
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
Pish and, moreover, tosh. They are Sea Labradors. Great big daft fish-scoffing Sea Labradors.
Looking out of the Nerve Centre window, I suspect one of my neighbours has run out of tasks. He's sorting out Christmas lights.
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.
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 home in the mountains down to Penrhyndeudraeth... they were only serving locals..This is a _local_ shop, for _local_ people. :)
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
I know I'd said I'd stop.Never made the connection, but...
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
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.I know where you are - I'm familiar with the area.
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)
But here's another sketch. It's more than a doodle, I spent some time over this one.Never made the connection, but...
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.
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 still need to get to camusferna or Sandaig as it really is at some point
Too much time on my hands
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OOljDUhcyRk
It just at 1:25:50.
I prefer yours :thumbsup:
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.
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.
they are often typing or reading emails at the same time
We have taken to Zoom meetings like dicks to water.
Mute until and unless you wanna speak!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.
We have taken to Zoom meetings like dicks to water.
Freudianslitslip or intentional? ITWSBT.
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.
From a friend of ours....;D
https://vimeo.com/408504636
And being able to attend them naked from the waist down. :thumbsup: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
She once complimented me on my fine pumping action, so I suspected as much.We have taken to Zoom meetings like dicks to water.
Freudianslitslip or intentional? ITWSBT.
That's fboab you're talking about. Deliberate, obv.
(https://i.imgur.com/cIcx5lz.jpg)Mrs RR could be SO's twin. Spooky! I assume she doesn't have a Manchester accent, though...
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.
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
And we're still speaking :D
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.
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.
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.
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.
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/
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.
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/
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
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
https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=115182.msg2487261#msg2487261Now 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#msg2487261Now 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)
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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 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."
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 decoratedspare roomNerve Centre.
Britain Needs Bike BuildersIf 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.
(https://road.cc/content/news/theres-need-bike-builders-could-you-help-273011?amp)QuoteWith 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.
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.
The announcer on Radio 3 has just used "strange times", "unusual times" & "dark times" within 5 minutes of each other.....
The announcer on Radio 3 has just used "strange times", "unusual times" & "dark times" within 5 minutes of each other.....
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.You don't have to accept the vouchers.
Now I have to cancel the car hire. Bah.
Miss von Brandenburg is going to grink them and demand Money with Menaces.What if they offer Menaces without Money? ;)
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.You don't have to accept the vouchers.
Now I have to cancel the car hire. Bah.
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.
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.You don't have to accept the vouchers.
Now I have to cancel the car hire. Bah.
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.
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.You don't have to accept the vouchers.
Now I have to cancel the car hire. Bah.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
And being able to attend them naked from the waist down. :thumbsup:
And being able to attend them naked from the waist down. :thumbsup:
Winnie-the-pooh style...
J
Bear from the waist down?
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.You don't have to accept the vouchers.
Now I have to cancel the car hire. Bah.
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.
Bear from the waist down?
Yup
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.
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.
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............
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.
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)
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.
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:
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.
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.
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
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.
Headline on an e-mail that I've received from Cyclist Magazine:-5
"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.
Headline on an e-mail that I've received from Cyclist Magazine:-5
"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.
Rear under
Front round
Bars down
Saddle down
Left pedal up
..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.”
I've done 5882 steps so far today, working from home.The other day I did 5000 steps round the sofa.
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).
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).
I've done 5882 steps so far today, working from home.The other day I did 5000 steps round the sofa.
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).
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.Momentum is pretty important in most circus skills, I'd have thought. Certainly juggling.
They've also made a couple of instruction videos for a community outreach project at Bangor University.
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
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 ::-)
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?
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 ::-)
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?
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.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!)
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.
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.
Yes, and it was Eurghh!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!
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.
Lots of pictures online of stuff in That London.
I've given away a bicycle!
I've given away a bicycle!
One I Love Me Jacket™ to Wow's place, nurses in white suits, to Wow's place.
J
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: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.
Most people seem to have given up on face covering, too.
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: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.
Most people seem to have given up on face covering, too.
I did see my neighbour in there, but she's definitely not someone I'd give manly hugs even at the best of times.
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: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.
Most people seem to have given up on face covering, too.
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
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.
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:-)
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.
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?
Was crossing York's Millennium Bridge yesterday. Crowd density was getting like a rock festival. Lots of gardenless houses nearby.
I think the supermarkets may still be getting the hang of their stock control
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.
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 understand that Tesco rationalised sausages from 64 options to "just" 15 at the start of the mad buying crisis.Appropriate phrase.
Rob
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.
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.
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.
Lots of stuff nearly the same in a supermarket.;D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uexC5wK9rM
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.
Hadn't heard of Bero flour.
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.
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
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,"Snake oil.........
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52810220 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52810220)
Ants in the house and can't find the nest.
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".Written by a graduate of the school of sci-fi writing for the under-tens.
"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)
Ants in the house and can't find the nest.
Hmm, it doesn’t deal with 1G...Hasn't got its feet on the ground?
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 can't find the nest in order to destroy it. >:(Ants in the house and can't find the nest.
That's odd - ants usually have such a good homing instinct.
Be carefulk what you wish for-I can't find the nest in order to destroy it. >:(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. >:(Ants in the house and can't find the nest.
That's odd - ants usually have such a good homing instinct.
Be carefulk what you wish for-I can't find the nest in order to destroy it. >:(Ants in the house and can't find the nest.
That's odd - ants usually have such a good homing instinct.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd_fu_8cCOo
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
...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?
Be carefulk what you wish for-I can't find the nest in order to destroy it. >:(Ants in the house and can't find the nest.
That's odd - ants usually have such a good homing instinct.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd_fu_8cCOo
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?
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.
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).
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>
Oh boy.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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
They could ask for ID and dot matrix print the post code of the buyer on the packaging.
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...
John Finnemore has something to say on the matter: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
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'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.
.... 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.
...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.
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.
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 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.It's the summer of George!
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.
...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!
...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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Our mothership have announced no return to 'normal' working this year.
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.
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.
The human race might die out.
.... The human race might die out.And that's a bad thing?
So, the demise if the human race is fairly likely, just not in the next couple of years.
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
I had my first haircut of the year at the weekend.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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 had mine in bits almost immediately as I wanted to swap the horrible, non-compliant, PVC-covered mains lead for a flexy silicone one.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.
Looks on, bemused by an entire page about haircuts.
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.
It's like 2020 or something, I'm pretty sure we can put electricity in bathrooms without immediate death.
Extension leads can be daisy-chained. What could possibly go wrong?
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.
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.
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.
I replaced our bathroom ceiling extractor fan despite dire YOU WILL DIE warnings, and seem to have survived the experience.
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.Ferry to the Hook?
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.
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.Ferry to the Hook?
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?
I understood that if you’re just driving through and don’t stop then it’s ok.
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.
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
If you drive through Belgium how is anyone going to know?
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.
This. Many times this.
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.
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.
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.
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 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...
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).
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.
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.QuoteActually, 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).
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).
They have since put a cover on with a slot, so you have to put the coins in individually...
I suspect the poaching one is the most likely.
Our little village......[hotbed of crime]
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'.
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...
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.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.
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.
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.
Our little village......[hotbed of crime]
What an exciting place you live in.
We once had someone double park here.
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.)
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.
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?
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? 🤔
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?
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.
Do people actually still drink that filthy muck now that even USAnians have learned how to brew proper BEER?
Like Stella, which tastes – I'd imagine, I've never tasted Toilet Duck – like a toilet cleaning product.
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.
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".
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.
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).
Just as well the conversation didn't turn to VAT. That fries most Murikans' brains.
Isn't the main appeal of industrial lagerpops that they don't taste much of anything at all?What's the matter lager boy, afraid you might taste something?
People get easily confused by things that interfere with their tastebuds - distracts them from focusing their attention 100% on the football.
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.
Because it's a simple percentage, say I, and I can do elementary maths because I come from a country with schools.
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 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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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"?
I know that Hawaii is 50 (Book him Danno!)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
Rumours of bog roll, coffee, flour and pasta/rice stockpiling again, for fear of another national lockdown. Idiots.
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.
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.
Arrival of mince pies innit.Probably.
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.
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.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.
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 ???
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?
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.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.
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...
Seen on the student halls of residence a few streets away:
(https://i.ibb.co/9rx0H59/IMG-2513.jpg) (https://ibb.co/kSLT2Cg)
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.'
Looks like a blow down valve to me
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:
But I'd have expected a big student halls of residence to have a centralised heating / HW system, not a boiler in every flat!
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.'
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.
Naked from the waist down, obviously.
The term for that is Winnie the Pooh style...
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.
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 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?
On Lock-down. I come from a Medium Risk area. Is that a Tier?Ooft you could at least of used its posh name of Cadzow.
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 >:( )
On Lock-down. I come from a Medium Risk area. Is that a Tier?There'll be tiers before bedtime.
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 of a clown.
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 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 thought it was takeaway coffee speak.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.
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
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.https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/anger-range-staff-claim-freezers-4000387
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.
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. ;)
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.
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. ;)
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...
I remember the last time we were all going to die... it's a bit like Groundhog Day of the Deadhttps://road.cc/content/blog/groundhog-day-dead-279751
"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.