Quick bit of agreement with @mt, I love Ard Rock being here but I also need to get to work and stuff, so if folk could avoid standing in the road that would be good or riding along it in the dark. Ta!

Local here, bumbling my way very very slowly on an Orange erm Orange Crush at 8:20 on Sunday for the Intro again as I found I enjoyed it much more than the Sprint. Feel free to say hello, I apologise in advance for slowing everyone down 😂

Im a firefighter and have never felt as underpaid and un-valued.
Before everyone cracks the “second job” jokes, I’ve heard them all, no I don’t play snooker and yes I do some gardening. Because otherwise I’d not be able to afford to eat.
It usually a choice between eating and putting diesel in the van as it is.
Single man, 1 child.
So yeah, inflation and pay is a nightmare for me.

Daughter won’t come

A van. Nothing fancy, but a van.

Careful what you wish for! See my earlier post! ;-)

AA Garage and parts cover or whatever it’s called. Used it for 4th time in 2 years today as water pump on van is leaking. Paid for itself in the first month! (£500 starter motor replacement for £35)

Full time water fairy

Looked too keen and over messaged the ridiculously cute girl I went on a riding date with at the weekend. Argh.

The Dublin Tower is built on foundations of cotton wool, so it is.

Ribblehead Viaduct is built on a foundation (partially anyway) of wool. Stopped it sinking into the bog.

The centre of a flame is hollow.

Having run out of oil and with no money to buy any I can assure you that it’s Baltic with no heating at all. I can’t recommend it ;)

Never a massive cryer fan. I did however drive home through Nidd to show my respects

@EsselGrunfuttock nonsense, I learnt everything I know from Londons Burning!
I don’t think I’ll bother with episode2!

And you can be sure it was this colleague how exactly?!

Apologies, I didn’t mean scared in a negative sense, concern is indeed a better term.

Don’t worry, someone will be along shortly to pour gloom on any good news. I get that people are scared and we need to do what’s right but I’ve had to step away from reading this thread as the constantly doom mongering at anything that could be seen as a positive was ramping my anxiety through the roof!

Have my (not particularly intelligent) take on vaccines and all the other shizzle…

I’ve been in the fire service 15 years.

I’ve been to RTC’s where more people than I’d like have ended up dead or injured in ways that have really screwed up their lives.

Some wearing seat belts. Some not.

The ones wearing seatbelts tend to be less badly hurt and much less likely to be dead.

Does the seatbelt mean they will never crash? No.
Have I seen people killed by a seatbelt. Yes.

But just like vaccines and other stuff, it increases their chances of surviving something they don’t have control over. More protection. It’s not 100%, but that doesn’t mean I don’t stick one on.

The numbers of people who are better for wearing one massively eclipse those who aren’t. Doesn’t mean any deaths are less tragic, but it does mean I have to see less of them.

Do I understand all the seat belt testing? Nope. But I also don’t claim to. People much cleverer than me have built on 50 yrs of testing so that when a new car comes out I don’t wait a year to see the data on whether it’s seatbelts work before I use one. Heck I even helped to trial a vaccine so I’ve seen how much goes into the testing process.

Sometimes at jobs the person not wearing one gets thrown around so much they injure the people next to them.

If I don’t wear one, the cops can stop me and fine me actual money I’d rather spend on cakes and booze. Not because we live in a totalitarian state (we don’t, but I can introduce you to people I know who have and trust me, this isn’t one) but because as humans we’ve accepted that some things which protect others and ourselves are so important that we will make them law. No one is making a vaccine a legal requirement. It’s up to you. If you like the freedom of driving, wear one, if you’d rather stay at home all the time, don’t. Simple.

I’ve never looked at people wearing seatbelts and screamed “sheep!!!” I also think if I ended up filling an intensive care bed, or even just an A&E bed for a bit because I hadn’t bothered while someone else had to wait I’d feel a bit of a dick.

It’s a free country even if it doesn’t feel it to lots of people, but actions have consequences. That’s how human existence works. So do me and my daughter a favour, get a vaccine and then maybe life for her can be “normal” again sooner rather than later.

Remember. The greater the vaccine uptake whatever you think of it, the great the chance of a normal Christmas and the pub being open!

Bump with a day to go! Any spare change appreciated! Ignore that it says GNR. She decided a half marathon wasn’t hard enough!

Genuinely curious how many of this critical of festivals and large gigs were at event like ard rock? There seems to a be a little bit of snobbery about who’s activity and event is justifiable… or maybe that’s just me being critical. I don’t recall protests of “don’t visit Swaledale and ard rock as it’s isolated and locals don’t have the healthcare provision. (Nothing against ard rock it’s just an example)

Agreed on the carpet. I think I needed the carpet incident to give me an “excuse” to cry.
There’s a vessel coming from France today with some ROV’s to try to find Rob.
Pants.

Ouch! That’s also pants @toby1. I will have a beer on your behalf!

@MarkSnook. I’ve got an intro ticket I’ll happily sell if you can confirm with them they’ll let you use it?

I do a bit of gardening but this is why I and then builder have PL insurance. Not the neighbours fault or problem, don’t see why they should be mortified? I’d have a polite chat with builder

Bloody hell. I’m so sorry. Hugs.

Detectorists is rather good isn’t it! 😂

I had no idea my pasture could contain such an abundance of old lilt cans, lumps of iron, .22 casings, shotgun cartridges, nails, little bits of wire, and yet be so lacking in anything interesting 😂😂😂

I got quite excited as I thought I’d found a coin but I doesn’t seem to have an markings so maybe not….. I think Mackenzie Crook is better at than me 😂😖

Patience certainly seem to be the key! I get iron signals every few metres almost but at the moment am using it in all metal mode to try to “get my ear in”….
I’m in the Yorkshire Dales, lots of old barns, walls, mining paths etc on the places I can go quite easily.
I’ve got a first edition OS Map of here that shows long demolished houses on my land, so I’m thinking those might be good places for a look, and around field gateways and things?

Thanks @plop-pants! I’ve got a cheap pin-pointerfrom Amazon, used if for the first time tonight and it made things a million times easier!

Permissions wise I should be ok I hope, live very rural and grew up here so know all the farmers etc.

Agreed it’s bloody awful stuff! No idea on replacements! Lynx Africa and style it out? Old Spice?

@batfink it’s very likely I will get one imminently through work as will be involved with a mass vaccination place

Re the Novavax one, I asked to me unblinded today in anticipation of getting an approved one with work very imminently. They said they could, but the other option (and I think their preferred one) is to not, as the next phase is to do a further blinded trial to see how it interacts with other vaccines, so I’d be back doing more more hospital visits….
I’m really not sure tbh! Anyone with any more knowledge than me care to comment?

@Vazaha, yeah, I’ve emailed them again as I’m being offered another approved vaccine through work. Quite happy to keep all the follow up blood tests etc. Which were your parents on?

I asked to be unblinded from the Novavax trial to avoid having a second vaccine but they wouldn’t let me, said the sponsors protocol is still for it to remain blinded. Pretty frustrating tbh.

@docrobster thanks for that. I’ve been seconded with work to a vaccine hub to make cups of tea so I may give them a call as I don’t want to take a left over dose that could more usefully go to someone else.

Pretty pleased I did the Novavax trial now as its been a hassle at times! But it’s been worth it!!!
I wonder if they will unblind me?!

@StuE thanks for sharing that, I too am on the Novavax trial, I had my second jab in early December. I’m looking forward to finding out the results!

There’s one of those behind my parents house in Grinton in Swaledale, used to have quite a bit of stuff inside it. Very damp and smelly tho! It’s sunk into whats thought to be some sort if prehistoric burial mound so who knows what was tipped away as they dug the hole!
Handy for the local fire crew to do confined space training, but I wouldn’t fancy living in one!

It’s interesting hearing so many people say they had a very sore arm after the first injection
I’m on the novavax trial and also had a very sore arm for a few days. It’s hard not to want to speculate!

Exercise alone and end of bubbles would be a disaster for my mental health :( It’s bad enough as it but if I now can’t go for a walk with my ex and the dog I’m not sure if I’d cope!
And yet the garden centres and home bargains can be packed.
I’ve tried hard to follow the rules, I have to go to work since I’m not allowed to take a fire engine home, but if we are now going for saying a walk from home (1 mile from the nearest other house!) with someone who also sees nobody apart from at work is riskier than all the people packing into shops for a day out, or still going to work when they could easily WFH I despair :(
Sorry, rant over x

Not really contributing but oh how I detest the phrase “Baked in”. As you were…

Best – Sole present was a tin of Quality Street so I suppose that!
Worst – I’m not a massive QS fan!
WTAF – Some secondhand tinsel, a pair of binoculars and one slipper (too small) which my daughter recieved from my uncle!

It’s a cliche but I wasn’t bothered about stuff for me, amazes me and does make me envious the stuff some of you get tho! But my daughter was happy with my Santa effort so that will do!

Thanks for the link @andyrm I’ve just applied. Fire service so plenty of first aid type experience as well as talking to old people! Worth a bash!