@bullstuff2
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Steve it’s cold here atm, about 12 °C, but it will be a warm car and a warm hospital, hopefully. Just a long trek to the other end of Grimsby Hospital. I get a week off next week, looks like the sea mist is along the East Coast though, so just two warm sunny days tomorrow and Sunday.
Your Matelot info reminded me of my big bro, a sailor on HMS Nelson, last battleship in the Andrew. When I was about to join the Merchant Navy at 16, he told me about what he called “Back – enders” and how one tried to ‘assault’ him. He beat the living crap out of the guy but nothing happened to my bro. On my second trip, a Bosun tried the same with me. I let him get his tackle out, then sliced it open with a steel ruler. He was taken off the ship and another guy promoted to Bosun. I was left alone after that: these things spread around the ships. I think it was because my brothers and me were short, but people always forgot or didn’t know that our old man was even shorter, but an ex-boxer and a hard little bugga, but quiet. He laid out both big bro and me at different times, only had to do it once and we both deserved it.
Off to chemo now, our Gert is hovering at the door, having got changed about an hour ago. Probably change her mind about what to wear before I’m ready.?
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I'm out.Going senile, Lolz! Found it again…
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I'm out.I find items on Ebay can often be found cheaper on Amazon, and IMHO Amazon gives more protection. 3 times over the years I had a dispute with an Amazon delivery and/or seller. Every time Amazon refunded first and dealt with the seller afterwards. I always do price comparisons for anything, but taking into account whether the company or seller might be reliable and trustworthy.
I have an account with Viking ( also known as Office Depot) – http://tinyurl.com/y9mr5on5
This month I found them cheaper for my Ink Cart’s than the other sources I use: Ebuyer and Cartridge World. Viking also send them out P&P free if small packets and you have an account. They are pretty good for paper too: a wide choice. I buy a 2500-sheet box of HP Quick Pack A4 from them and share it across the family. They are expensive for other stuff though.
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I'm out.Steve, my left shoulder was giving me gyp all night and into most of today. Yesterday I had two more vaccinations to boost the activity that my spleen used to provide: Meningitis B and C. One in each shoulder: whilst the right one is unbothered, I kept turning onto my favoured left side last night and waking up with pain in my left. Combine that with the Prostate-inspired 3x toilet visits per night, and I seemed to be awake all night, until awoken from 2 solid hours by my dear Gert. I recall having jabs for various Eastern postings during Army service, and it was always the left side shoulder that reacted worst.
Chemo again tomorrow, one more week after that takes us up to a week’s holiday in a quiet Suffolk village lodge. I am looking forward to that. I like Suffolk and Norfolk.
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I'm out.Very useful wasbit, many thanks!
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I'm out.John, Gumtree is not without problems: I have had people agree to buy, then try to underpay me. Recently Gumtree has begun to bombard me with offers for stuff I don’t want. There are also people who ignore the “Collection Only” bit of an ad, and try to get you to post it for the same price. Much like Ebay really, but without protection.
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I'm out.Some years ago BC, (Before Cuts) our Social Landlord had oodles of funding provided by government and decided to survey all their properties with a view to installing both ground source heat pumps and rooftop solar panels. They engaged a major national company to survey our 23 bungalows: I have no idea about other properties on their books, but they did survey ours.
The survey was very comprehensive, took over 12 months to complete and report, and turned over more stones than the landlord expected. First results were concerning building structures. The bungalows were originally built by East Lyndsey District Council between 1962 and 1965, in five different patterns. One of the resulting conclusions, was that the lintels over all windows, were incorrectly built: there was simply a concrete lintel across merely the width of the window, no internal, overlapping steel RSJ, which might explain why so many of our window mechanisms stick and seize. The surveyors then pointed to the SUDG windows, which were old and mostly no longer capable of insulating the homes efficiently. They then addressed the draughts that we all had under our floors: apparently caused by no insulation behind the fibreboard under the main lounge windows.
In 2003, the government forced ELDC to handover all their properties to a local Housing Trust, which is no longer local but the largest in the UK. ELDC received £57 million of taxpayer’s money for this and promptly invested it in Icelandic Banks. (I’m not making this up!) They may receive a final repayment by 2025…
By the time the CEO had recovered from the estimated cost of repairs and rectification, the next blows fell. First it was the fact that our part of Lincolnshire is only a few miles from the coast, sits just 24 metres above sea level, and has not actually been above sea level more than a few centuries. Consequently, the ground water is at a high level and our village actually lies upon a huge aquifer, with a village pump that was still in use until just after WWII and would work today if needed. So, cancel the ground source pump plans. Absolutely nothing was done to address the problems already mentioned, except to fit insulation beneath the lounge window, then fit fancy new UPVC front doors, a purely cosmetic measure which completely failed to address the other insulation problems. A long period of sustained prevarication saw the election of a new government and the introduction of the cuts which finally put paid to any funding for solar panels.
We fought as a community of Oldpharts for several years to have our ancient, inefficient Night Storage Heating replaced by GCH, but it took the intervention of our previous MP Sir Peter Tapsell, to achieve that. He bent the ear of the relevant Minister and, probably after another near heart attack by the CEO, we got GCH.
I repeat: I am not making any of this up.
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I'm out.I don’t think it’s a big deal Ed: Microsoft has been running up the white flag to open source for some time now. It’s probably just surrendering to the inevitable.
If you can’t beat ’em …..
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I'm out.It is very rarely that I buy anything from Ebay, and usually only “Buy It Now”. I know what it is I want and my first port of call is usually Amazon or some other online seller. Then I take a trip to Ebay and look at alternatives there, weigh up pro’s and cons of buying from whichever.
Last 2 purchases were a boot liner and floor mats for the iX20. Ebay had a boot liner from Poland and floor mats from the Czech Republic, both buy it now. They were less expensive than anywhere else, very well made and fitted perfectly. I am very pleased with both items. The Hyundai factory liner and mats were over twice as expensive.
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I'm out.Lee, down my Nottingham way and at lots of other grounds, Leeds are regarded as “a scourge” as well. The most foul-mouthed, violent lunatic fringe in football, with Chelsea not far behind.
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I'm out.I have only shopped at Matalan Grimsby by traveling the 44 mile round trip to the store, usually for SWMBO’s purchases. Missus likes to “see what I want and try it.” Usual pattern there is that she finds nothing to suit in right colour, fit etc and spends at least an hour to find that out. Meanwhile, not having any particular wish for clothes buying, I wander off and almost always come back with something that fits and looks good. It drives her mad. Then we toddle off to the mall, Freshney Place, and she visit several ladies’ shops, whilst I get a mag or a newspaper with a coffee. I hate shopping, especially for women’s shoes! I have a rough idea of what I want and buy the first suitable item, although I have not bought shoes for about 5 years, because I spend good money at good shops, for shoes that last. SWMBO spends hours trying on shoes, then usually winds up back at the first shop with the first pair. That drives me mad.
I have one double wardrobe for everything: SWMBO has 2x triple wardrobes. When do they ever wear it all?
Maybe it’s a good thing that I am still fond of her.
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I'm out.It made me laugh this morning to read and hear Southgate and the BBC’s Phil McNulty bigging – up England’s performance. BBC: “Have England found their best system?” – Well, point 1, Nigeria worked out how to deal with it and almost had England clinging on in the second half. Point 2, Nigeria seemed to sit back and let England play in the first half. Point 3, if that is our best system, we will struggle against much better teams. Point 4, why systems? We always seem system-orientated in English football. The last English coach with a system which actually worked, was Sir Alf Ramsey, the world caught up and overtook us by 1970.
I think Putin will want to make sure that his lunatic fringe do not shame his country. There will be a heavy security presence and most of it will be directed against the Russian thugs. The world will be watching and TV cameras will be everywhere: you simply cannot fool a worldwide audience all the time. Maybe the Gulags will be reopened again…
I would love England to do well, I am as patriotic as anyone, but I simply cannot see it happening. I would dearly love to admit how wrong I was, after the tournament.
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I'm out.First half England looked good, second half the Nigerian coach worked out Southgate’s Wing Back system and sent on 4 sub’s to counteract it, by playing it the same way, but quicker. Young was exposed as too slow and the whole thing fell apart. Bringing on Danny Rose as a genuine left back helped, but this is what is going to happen when we play better teams in Russia: a fixed system gets worked out. Sterling, perhaps our most talented player, did one of his stupid, unnecessary dives and received an equally unnecessary yellow card. Attack became defence too many times as the ball came all the way back from the Nigerian penalty area, to Pickford in goal. Far too much tip-tap passing and losing the ball. But the Nigerians were quick and skillful, with a bit more luck in front of goal, they could have won.
We are heading for the usual pre-tournament streak of wins, followed by an early exit at the Finals, unless Southgate loses his fascination for systems and gives the players more freedom. I thought Dele Alli had his best game, until replaced.
Note to traveling England support: don’t plan on a long stay in Russia.
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I'm out.The Windrush affair has aspects that worried me and the Trinidadian-born mate that I have known for many years, Richard. In the village where I grew up, he was the first black miner to work at the local pit. He was the eldest of a family that eventually numbered five children, all his siblings being born in the UK. One morning he rose for work, to find that his parents and siblings had all gone to Trinidad and left him in an NCB house that he was not allowed to keep without a family. He was desperate and about to be evicted, but he had many friends and the village rallied round, especially myself and seven other mates who usually formed our group of young pals. I found him lodgings with a widowed lady whose son had been a schoolmate and who was happy to see it happen, as he now lived and worked many miles away and knew his mum would be fine. For the rest of his life, my black mate lived, married and worked in the village and the village to this day continues to care about him. He recently came off his old BSA 650 and was taken to hospital by locals, then cared for by neighbours. He tells me he is recovering well, to which I asked why at 73, he is riding a 650 BSA? His answer is typical: ‘Because it’s there, mate!”
The widowed lady died, leaving the house to him and his family. I was at her funeral, where he and his family were obviously heartbroken to lose a substitute but real mum, mum-in-law and grandma. He was inconsolable, until I reminded him how much he and his family had cared for their ‘mum’ in her last years.
The problem he had concerning the Windrush affair, was that his siblings could, and did, return to the UK whenever they wished, but he was born in Trinidad and has been very worried about the whole situation. Then a village friend contacted a solicitor on his behalf and it now appears to be a battle won. As he has always said, where else would he feel at home? It is his home, he knows nowhere else as home, he speaks with my own broad Nottinghamshire accent and he is among friends and family who are the same and who count him as a good man and one of their own.
What a farrago of nonsense and political chicanery, this whole immigration policy has become. There are Eastern European gangsters and drug runners, middle eastern paedophiles and radical terrorists abusing children and killing people in this country, but a man like my mate has all the hassle of worrying if he is to be deported to a country he does not know and has no wish to know. I am sorry about the rant, but it annoys me intensely.
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I'm out.Good points Richard, and your views about the ‘pricing out’ of some from premier League football is valid. However, it has the highest attendance figures across worldwide TV audiences, which brings the money rolling into the Murkydog coffers, to be shelled out into the bulging wallets of the highest paid (mostly foreign import) players. Not to mention the top half-dozen (mostly foreign-owned) wealthy clubs, which can afford the exorbitant wages of these players, whilst the rest scratch around for second and third rate sweepings.The only saving graces are those clubs like my own Forest, who invest in Academies for mostly local young players, some spotted from the ages of 10, not always boys: I have a Gt-GT -niece playing now for Forest Juniors and doing well. The point about lower-club academies, is that it takes extreme dedication and sacrifice, for young players to make it in the game and many fall by the wayside, if early promise is not fulfilled. On the other hand, young players who do make the grade, are often snapped up by the rich clubs, which has a negative and positive aspect: the negative is losing a player who could bring success to the club. The positive is the funds that transfer money can bring to the club’s economy. It is not realised by most people, how hard each player has to work, to get to the top. Or what the price of failure can be.
Want to know what may surprise? The second highest worldwide audiences are for the English Championship games, the second tier behind Premier League. A long way behind, is the Deutsche Bündesliga, the German football league.
You are correct in the fact that Abramovich used Chelsea as an ‘intro’ to the UK, supported at the time by weak or no checks and balances. That opened the floodgates for foreign ownership. IMO he may now become a whipping boy for the whole issue.
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I'm out.Richard, I understand your lack of interest in football, shared by a few other forumites. However, it remains the most popular spectator and participant sport in the UK, consequently it means a great deal to those of us who have followed and/or played it for years through thick and thin times with our respective clubs. In my case, as a Nottingham Forest supporter, that is thin but with increasing hope for better times, atm. We supporters are always hopeful.? Everyone has had a lifelong interest in something, whether entertainment, arts or sport, whatever.
The Roman Abramovich conundrum is created by his entrance to the UK and Chelsea with a big wodge of cash, which he had made from devious means inside Russia, and needed somewhere to stash some of it. Although to be fair, he struggled in his early businesses selling dolls, until he became a friend of Boris Yeltsin, the alcoholic Russian president who opened the doors for all the crooks who became Oligarchs. That friendship, and his dealings in opposition to Putin’s own crooked crew, saw him perceived as an enemy by Putin: not a safe situation. So Roman took his billions and his yacht(s) and set out to find a safe haven for himself and his money. That haven does not look so safe anymore. IMO – and it is only MO – it appears that some deal has been done behind the new Curtain, to gradually eject him. I also understand that his religious beliefs have led to Israel offering a haven. Not surprising at all when one thinks about it: there is a large expat Russian community within Israel. There is also space for his yachts in either of the 4 harbours of Ashkelon, Ashod, Hadera or Haifa.
There is nothing underhand about the way some wealthy foreigners are now being chased by HMRC and other agencies for their (often) ill-gotten gains. The underhand part has existed for too long, without the UK being in receipt of sufficient taxation and other benefits. Now HMRC and other public agencies are being instructed to go after these people. This is a government which knows that post-Brexit, we will need support for Treasury funds. Most of the really wealthy London residences are owned by foreigners: that is not xenophobia, it is fact. This has a knock-on effect for ordinary London workers, who have to live well outside where most work and pay the heavy commuter price for that.
Not that the Russian oligarchs are doing anything different than the English sea captains and merchants in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, who first created the East India Company and thus afterwards, the British Empire, which stole from, enslaved and took whatever it wished, from the peoples it conquered. History repeats itself.
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I'm out.Abramovich now says that, if he sells Chelsea, he wants back the £1.7Bn that he paid for it. Great expectations!
I can’t see him paying lots of money for big players any more, so they will gradually fade down the PL and hopefully down to the lower leagues. No great loss, IMO. (See BL, said I would come off the fence, Lolz!)
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I'm out.Yes that’s why I often check my system time & date against my mobile phone. I know they can be a little out, but errors in sys time show up as glaring, IME. Also use the phone time to check my Black Forest cuckoo clock before going to bed. Supposed to be super-efficient, but over 9 years I found that British weather really screws with it.
Incidentally, I just read a wonderful Kindle book “Longitude” by Dana Sobel. All about John Harrison’s clocks and watches, with his struggle to win the Longitude prize against the opposition of entrenched Establishment “scientists”. His son William eventually won the day, but not until the so-called “mad” King George III took up his struggle and used his position to bounce the opposition. A very good read, after it I came to ask: why is this man not more celebrated in this country? Oh wait, he started life as a Lincolnshire farmer’s son. The whole world owes him, big time.
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I'm out.My Samsung soundbar is connected to the TV and Humax STB by Optical and works better than Bluetooth and/or HDMI ARC, which both had had Lip-Sync issues. It also gives clearer sound IMO.
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I'm out.Thanks W-o-F, that is a very useful Link.
I saved it to Firefox Pocket: https://getpocket.com another useful Link given to me by Steve (The Duke) some time ago. Saves whole pages that I can come back to exactly as they were presented.
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