@bullstuff2
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This is a weird happening ! Starling road block Is it weather related ?
That’s starlings for you Boris! One finds a crumb and hundreds more see him, all dive down to fight over it. Happening on my backyard this weather when I put some food out on the bird table and in the feeders. They can’t get into the feeders, and only 2 at a time can get onto the table, but they try to get on in sixes or more. I just bang the window and they fly away, resident sparrows, blackbirds, thrushes, robins, finches etc, all just look up and carry on eating or waiting patiently in line.
Food is scarce. Watched one of “our” blackbirds this morning: he was diving his beak into the snow to get at grass. Worked his way down to where the slab path is buried and stabbed down with his beak. For a moment he froze, then flew on top of the bird table, shaking his aching head.
Please don’t put out white bread for birds btw: they cannot digest it. Wholemeal is good. To attract blackbirds, I put out the currants, raisins and sultanas from SWMBO’s cereal. One day she will discover why there are so few of them in her muesli….
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I'm out.It should read
Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus! or Happy St. David’s Day
Thanks David, my granddad would be very unhappy with me!
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I'm out.Nothing to add to the already excellent advice given, Marc, but the experience of listening to our landlord’s “expert” making a total prat of himself. 2 years ago next month, our landlord was finally forced to replace our ancient, useless electric Night Storage, Economy 7 heating with Gas C.H. The aforementioned ‘expert’ came round with the engineer from the company who were contracted to fit the systems in our bungalows. The electric heaters had been fitted in the early 60’s and were all in the wrong places, away from windows and on internal walls. Efficient Convection was therefore knackered to begin with, but the expert told the engineer that the new GCH rad’s would be fitted in the same places. He was told that this was not about to happen by the engineer. The conversation is still fresh in my memory.
‘Expert‘: “We are paying your company to fit the systems and you should fit according to our directions.”
Engineer: “That is not going to happen. My company has been carrying out this work for over half a century and we know our business. If you insist upon having the final say about where the radiators are to be fitted, I shall recommend that my company leaves this whole project, citing incompatability and interference as a reason to end the whole contract. I would also like to know from what professional, qualified position you, or any of your colleagues, are able to dictate the way this work is to be carried out.”
As the landlord is one of the largest Social Housing groups in the country, and has just set up a massive contract with this company, the ‘expert’ had the expression of a man who had just placed both feet firmly in his mouth. He left the house to talk upon his mobile out in his car. Meanwhile, the engineer set about making notes on his tablet about the work to be done, muttering something about Chiefs and indians.
We got the rads under the windows and the expert was not seen again. I still have bad memories about those heaters: they were totally bereft of heat by 16:00, which made the winter nights a time of trial for us. During the previous heavy, lasting snow and ice of 2010/11, we used additional electric heating just to keep warm. After the GCH came on stream, our energy bills fell like a stone.
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I'm out.It was from the “Metro” Nolan, scroll down a bit. http://tinyurl.com/y9etrkqq
Anything about Wales always catches my interest, but a poem by a Welsh lass with the name Clarke was doubly noted: that was my SWMBO’s maiden name, although her parents came from Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Her mum was a Griffiths, so she picks up anything Welsh too.
Celtic Revenge, my granddad called all the Welsh, Scots & Irish names in the phone book.
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I'm out.1962/3 was a bad one. As a Junior Deckhand, I had returned from a Meditarranean trip and was nicely tanned. I felt so cold, could not get warm, returned to Hull early and signed on again for another Medi trip. Just stayed long enough to visit both brothers and b******k them rigid for not looking to our parents in the cold. I was still cold when I returned, then a trip around the Americas put that right. Next was a series of 10-day runs to Norway and Sweden. In winter. I think all that, at a young age, made me able to adapt to different climates and temperature ranges, in the Army.
No further snow here, but last night was very cold. I last took a reading before 20:00 and it was -7°c. It is officially -3°c atm, but when I went out to the bins, the wind was very strong and biting, must be around -7°c with wind chill. SWMBO has a Physio appointment tomorrow at 11:00, has called in to see if it’s still on.
Unfortunately it is. And I have run out of salt-grit for the paths. Still feeding my birds, now have a pair of Mistle Thrushes having a running battle with the Blackbird Gang. Sparrows picking up the bits and the Robins are not molested. Nobody messes with the Robins, hard little buggas! There is war on my backyard.
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I'm out.Very good spot Wasbit.
Reassures me, to discover that I did indeed get the best price for the new monitor I ordered. ??
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I'm out.I remember a week or more in around 1959/60, when the buses to my old village could not get into the valley. On one particular day I wanted to go in because it was footy practice for a County Schools Cup Final. Pushed my bike half a mile, rode it another 7½ miles to school, only fell off once into a drift. Got to school and it was shut, no footy practice. Went to the pictures in Mansfield instead. No local radio in those days, to tell us if schools were closed.
I was footy daft as a kid, still am. We won that final, played a local Grammar school. Us Tech School kids was good at footy. Mr Crofts used to say “You can beat this lot. Their idea of training is 10 minutes behind the bike sheds with a bag of sweets. They are reading Shakespeare while you are designing and making stuff with your hands. Go get ’em!” Motivation…
But when I did get to school when it opened, because there was still some snow, some of the teachers had not made it. So some lessons were outside, we made sleds in Engineering. Our school had loads of pitches, but the top two were uphill. Magic for sledding, so a fun day as you say Steve. Tell your young ‘un that I am almost 73 and still remember those days now.
We seem to be in between two separate weather systems here in East Lindsey. South Lincs, Skeggy and Boston, have blizzards and thick snow, Grimsby and Humberside too. It has snowed this morning and a few flurries through the day, but we have not had it as bad as others. I did go out and clear my paths and the neighbours, salted them afterwards which is what stops the ice reforming. One smartass passing me at work said “There will be more tonight. Wasting your time.” So I replied “According to the Met Office latest, you are wrong. But you are a big strong lad. Will you help me clear these paths?” – “Not likely.” – “Then get the F*** out of my Close!” (With a smile. Sort of.)
But the problem for us will be the cold: we have two systems to north and south of us and low pressure from both, but we are missing the snow. So we will be coldest in England tonight: – 7°c atm (20:23) and dropping. Today I also managed to get the car out, get some medication, a new pair of gloves and post our old passports off. I have the only car in the Close that is free of snow.
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I'm out.I feel sorry for the staff at my local Maplins store, having got to know some of them over the years. Not their fault that management made so many wrong decisions. That’s the story for so many UK companies I suppose. Now those staff are out of a job in Grimsby, a place with high unemployment.
Government will not give a wotsit, it’s too far above the Wash.
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I'm out.SWMBO’s passport online renewal done, easy-peasy. It’s still a Beta service, but (providing you use the right photo) it’s very efficient an easy to use. I gave them feedback to state that, with a word about advising customers to ensure they use the right photo service. Now if I get the ‘right’ medical diagnostic results and non-complex surgery, we are off on a river cruise somewhere. I fancy Russia, which horrifies SWMBO….
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I'm out.I know the country does not get much sunshine surely people should not confuse sunshine with snow? Sunshine is about all we have really had so far. A tiny scattering of some easy melt white stuff may be a few eights of an inch at most, so why all the panic? If it was a shade warmer you could have sun bathed here.
Keep calm and get the wellies out Nolan, Dave and Richard, it’s on its way to you!
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I'm out.Looking WNW* out of my front door @ 13:48 today:
Looking out of same door @ 16:48 today:
I thought we had got away with it yet again, so far it has been to the north, south and west of us. Much more tomorrow. By a happy accident, we were up and about early, but SWMBO’s hospital appointment was cancelled and we shopped earlier, bought extra. As long as we don’t get powercuts, we will be OK for at least a week plus.
Good news for everyone West of us (that’s most of you here) – it’s all heading West now. Tomorrow and Thursday it comes straight down to us from North and East. I’m praying for no powercuts. Snow shovel is by the back door, rescued my wellies and thick socks. I remember 2009/10, we were snowed in – it kept coming, thawing, freezing and snowing again, rinsed and repeated from November to late March.
Stay warm and well, guys!
*West North West. I was a nautical person, once.???
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I'm out.Bought it Dave: http://tinyurl.com/yd3pum5l It’s my birthday pressie to me.
Nothing better for the money and it’s HP. I like HP quality, had my Photosmart C5380 printer almost 9 years now, still going strong. Granddaughter still using the Dv7 Pavilion laptop, ex-mine, ex-SWMBO’s. That is a year older than the printer. If it stands up to my gdaughter’s treatment, it’s a good’un. I have seen her using it on the sink draining board whilst making dinner. (I was wincing, but it’s hers now!) ??
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I'm out.Many thanks Dave: that hits the spot for me, varies between £179+ and £159+ elsewhere. I thought I had checked ebuyer, must have missed that one
Thanks Nolan, it went well but just the first stage. Next stage, type of further surgery depends upon results of this one. The HP Dave links to has HDMI and VGA, which is good enough for what I need.
Thanks Ed, but 27″ is too large for the space and I sit only about 4 feet away.
Thanks Steve, you’re right about a million answers, there is just so much choice and competition now, I was dreaming monitors in Hospital last night.?? Anything bigger than 24″ is too big, and all I need is HDMI and VGA: which packed up on my old monitor last year. No.2 gson gets that if he wants it.
Thanks Richard, good advice and I will see if Currys has one of these in. That’s what I do: if I like something and Currys have one on display, I check it out. They owe me anyway, for selling me Sky!
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I'm out.Whilst I have been occupied being internally video’d, inspected , scraped, cut and sliced at Castle Hill Hospital yesterday and today, senior gdaughter has stayed overnight with grandma. This morming she took grandma to the studio I mentioned before, an independent but professional photographer. Coded pic was sent to SWMBO’s email and I will process her application tomorrow on her lappy, after YAHA (Yet Another Hospital Apointment) – SWMBO at Grimsby Hospital this time, to check out progress of the HipOp.
I have seen the photo this guy took on her lappy and compared it with the one taken at the Kodak shop which the Passport Office decided was ‘too white, with shiny areas and reflections’. Seeing the pics together, it’s obvious. The new one looks like SWMBO actually has a complexion, instead of looking as if she has never seen the sun in her life. Lesson learned. He also charged only £5, whereas the Kodak shop charged £8. I will be looking to get that back.
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I'm out.This kind of publicity gives the Motability Scheme and all of us who use it, a bad press and great copy for the media. We get enough funny looks and sometimes comments from the able-bodied as it is.
Example: a month ago, I was parking in a Grimsby Blue Badge space, got out and along to the boot for my stick. “You don’t look disabled” said an obese prat at the roadside, with a burger box and fries in his paw. I said nothing, took my stick and two more to the passenger door, helped my missus out, gave her the sticks, locked the door, walked round to him.
“Neither do you, Fatso,” I said, “but if you keep shovelling loads of s**t down your neck and taking no exercise, I don’t doubt that you will be! And I also doubt that you will live as long as me, which will benefit the Human Gene pool. Now p**s off out of my way before I puncture your fat gut with this stick!” Several bystanders were laughing at him, he exited, stage left.
My SWMBO was rolling her eyes and shaking her head. Has never learned that aggression is the better part of valour.
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I'm out.It’s life Steve, the small hours can depress the soul, but sometimes you have to look at the guy with the scythe and laugh him in the face. As for being allowed to make one’s own choice, I think yes if the sufferer has really had enough. However, my old dad died hard at 1:30 am with me at his side and I asked him a few days before that if he had had enough.
“No son, not going like that. I read a quote once – ‘Do not go gently into that good night.‘* Just let me keep waking up and seeing the birds on the feeder, in the sunshine.” It was July. A part of me misses him every day, 29 years later. One regret is that I never got to show him our home here: he would have loved the Lincolnshire countryside, growing up dirt-poor in Stoke.
I lost to some form of cancer, in order: Granddad, Gt-uncle, 2x uncles, dad, big brother, 2x nephews. All of it industry-related, with tobacco thrown into the mix. Most pain can be managed, it’s one’s own choice about any alternatives. I hope not to ever be in that position, but if I have to make that choice, I will fight to stay here. I have a picture window by the bed, 3 feeders and a bird bath in sight and a family of blackbirds return every year to nest in one of my trees. Plus about a zillion sparrows nest in the Privet hedge next door. My garden is a theatre and I want to be there when the curtain goes down. In about 40 years, please, when I am finally too old to hobble away from all my misdemeanours.??
*It’s a Dylan Thomas Poem: http://tinyurl.com/y964al23 Born 100 years ago on February 20th this year.
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I'm out.I use Windows Disk Cleaner and the tools in Kaspersky Total Security to keep the lid down. If I have to mess with the Registry, I am very cautious. I certainly would not let Third Party software play in Registry. (Bitter experience when I first started with Pooters!) Most of those third party tools, use Windows DC and other Windows features, anyway. WDC may be slower, but it does a thorough job. I always do 2 backup Macrium Reflect images when I use WDC: one before and one after.
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I'm out.Well done Scotland, now my Scots Gt-nephew will be giving me some stick. I don’t really mind, they deserved it, England beaten by a better team on the day. Also beaten by errors and inability to concentrate IMO.
I fully expected Wales to beat the Irish though and they came close. Two good games.
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I'm out.Last time I mourned was my nephew Alan, only 7 years between us and more like a kid brother. Strong as an ox before the lung cancer got him and one of those quiet but hard lads who rarely had to prove it. He was an NCB blacksmith, which means a lot more than shoeing horses*. He and his mate could see the pits going down the pan, so both did a course on closing down colliery shafts. Their good and bad luck was that they were the only two guys who took this course in the whole of the UK mining industry. As pits closed, they were in demand all over the place, along with several Mine Engineers and Geologists, they toured UK pits, earning more money in a few weeks than they had ever made. Those two had to go down the shaft in a huge bucket after the headstocks were demolished, inspect, take samples from the shaft walls, get together with the “- ologies” (who did not go down with them) and produce a report on the fitness or otherwise of both shafts to take anything up to 20,000 tons of stone and a deep concrete cap, after the stone had settled.
Our Alan and his mate were working 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week as the Thatcher government closed pits as fast as they could get miners to vote for redundancy. Alan made enough to buy the local pub, which had been my dad and Alan’s granddad’s local, since dad moved to the village and pit in 1926. I think it was that final work which aggravated his cancer: he complained of a bad back for a few years and it got worse during the work. The bad back was of course the disease eating his chest, and he smoked. I still miss our Alan, we were mates as well as relatives and I pulled him through the death of his first wife at 26, nagged him to go out with the lass who became his second wife and widow. He was delivering sacks of coal at 16, before he went underground at 18. As a trained blacksmith he bought a full-size anvil and had it delivered to the gate. I went up to give him a hand with it to his front door, only to see him carrying it up the drive himself. He painted that anvil gloss black as a sign of his work, mounted it on concrete. It’s still there and one of his stepsons has the house now.
*But he could do that too, he attended Farrier training, qualified and made a few quid locally, shoeing at riding stables. He also made some Civil War weapons for a re-enactment group. I caught him working on a 12 foot Pike in his forge – he grinned behind the goggles and said “Pikes ‘R’ Us!”
Last time I saw him at Nottingham City Hospital, I took him a monster box of Maltesers, which was the only chocolate he liked. It was also one of the few things he could get down, it was just so sad to see my big kid bro looking so thin.
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I'm out.The best motor I ever rebuilt for myself took months, best part of a year of weekends. It was a Sierra Ghia 2.3 V6, built from 3 crashed cars (2 hatches and an estate) I bought a bodyshell from Ford and carried out all my own work, insulation and sound deadening thicker than normal. When built, it was beautiful, metallic light blue, proper Ghia interior, 5-speed box, Granada rear axle & suspension. I had it checked out by a Nottingham Motor Engineer and the RAC, got a clean bill of health. The engine had done just 22,000 K but I stripped and rebuilt it. I ran it for about a year and a mate offered me stupid money for it, nag-nag-nag, sold it. Stupid of me.??
We had one of those smartasses at our garage, thought he could top that. Bought a wrecked Sierra Cosworth XR 4×4, started a rebuild in his own garage, dropped the gearbox onto concrete. As it was then £1500+ for a new box and none available second-hand, he was f****d. Sold the rest back to where he bought it at a 70% loss on his cost.
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I'm out. -
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