firestarter

Not surprised you’re not in the FBU….

american company, so financial year end hits on 31st Dec

Coupled with SAP [apparently] going live at some plants on 1st Jan

Timing is all.

Ghost farts?

the microsoft family thing is actually very good https://account.microsoft.com/family/

set it up – set the times, and you can control remotely. The boy wouldn’t come to dinner the other day (some fortnite thing). We gave him fair warning, then just cut his time remotely. It turfed him out. He’s not done it since…

then control what he can play, who he can talk to, etc etc

this lot (Lease Advice) will tell you even more. Government run, and great help 15 years ago when we needed some, er, advice.

this week i have mostly been drinking this from the wine soc

Pinot noir

Bought it a few weeks ago for a party, then in the last week or so it’s been everywhere as the wine to buy for xmas (i obv got lucky). It is actually pretty good for the money

Pale ruby. Amazingly inexpensive for a Hungarian wine! Smells of Pannonian-warmed Pinot. Certainly not burgundy and fully mature. Very slightly syrupy but there is no flab. What a steal! Polished and sweet but still refreshing. Very good value. – Jancis Robinson”

New to The Wine Society, this Hungarian pinot noir is all bright redcurrants, red cherries and cool lines – seriously impressive at the price, and a joy to drink slightly chilled. – Victoria Moore

Pinot noir’s elusive forest floor earthiness and juicy red berry fruits are both in evidence in a smart Hungarian bargain that is a good-value choice for those who favour a lighter red with the turkey and trimmings. – David Williams

If you want a goretex military jacket,then surely something like this

Obviously there are hundreds more around

I was assuming you were joking

i was joking

I partially blame Ed Milliband

I don’t think that’s going back far enough. I blame Kaiser Wilhelm. Or Napoleon

I’m up to about 46 donations now.

it’s chaotic. they turn up in the village three times a year, generally at holiday periods or friday nights

you have to book, but even then you wait an hour (gone are the days I would be in and out in 20 minutes – I’m officially a ‘fast bleeder’. About the only time I am)

However, it’s still a good thing to do and the more the merrier

had a superb time in halong bay and hoi an 20 years ago. incredible all round. In fact all the north was great

probably changed remarkably now though.

Still love to go back

we moved to a couple of digital showers last year. Couldn’t for the life of me think why, but now they’re there, i realise the benefit.

press the button, shower warms up, then turns off so you can get in without flooding the floor, and press again, and the showers at the right temp.

it’s got to the stage when we go away, you press the button expecting it to go off after reaching temp, but it never does. After 5 minutes you realise.

Yes, i am very superficial and shallow

gosh, like most I have the Krupps one from John Lewis. It is a burr grinder. Gone up a bit since I got one though

now, this is somewhat embarrassing. I had a little lopping electric chainsaw.

It wouldn’t cut for anything. Not a dicky. Made a lot of noise, but the smallest groove known to mankind

Finally worked out I had the chain in the wrong way around. Works fine now!

i think (and everyone’s different…) it’s better west, up by Chrismas Common etc, or further west still (north wessex downs).

It’ll be wet chalk now. Gets everywhere. If it doesn’t, you’ll slip on it

they also processed the claim

oh i realise, but there’s no way to preemptively pay the fee.

Least they’re cheaper than UPS, which charged me £30 i think when i got the obligatory singletrack approved titanium safety razor from america

just imported a pair of boots from brisbane. Paid 20% VAT on the cost of the boots, but not the delivery fees.

Not forgetting the £8 fee that the royal mail put on to tell me this

(he did put the proper value of the boots on, rather than the obligatory £5)

The sounds app doesn’t have an alarm function (and apparently no plans to put one in). This is a slight inconvenience as it’s what I use every morning (i know other apps are available…)

and – as mentioned above – it doesn’t seem quite as intuitive as iplayer radio. I realise it’s what I’m used to etc etc, but the lack of an alarm is a killer for me

contrary to the above, i spent 3 weeks in sri lanka about 18 years ago, when the war was still on, and thought it was great. Never had any trouble getting alcohol, and I don’t mind heat/humidity.

Lot of security, but we spent time driving around (or rather being driven around; almost cheaper to hire car and driver than just car. And all hotels had accommodation for the driver thrown in). Amazing scenery, lovely ancient building etc. Then had a week in Mirissa on the south coast; really lovely. Think it mostly got washed away in the tsunami

it was busy in the strip between colombo and galle. All the rest was pretty quiet.

Loved it really. But that was only me and the [then] girlfriend.

need more of a run up?

more likely the angle

i was always taught silverfish can jump, so they’re obviously playing tiddly winks with your mug. Presumably then the enclosed (ish) mug stops them jumping out again

also (bearing in mind their subclass)

Apterygotes, however, have the demonstrated capacity for directed, aerial gliding descent from heights. It has been suggested by researchers that this evolved gliding mechanism in apterygotes might have provided an evolutionary basis from which winged insects would later evolve the capability for powered flight

Dodgy nightclub, followed by the classic ‘bloke getting on a table with guitar and singing’ pub

McAlpine died a few months ago, but his estate is (was?) amazing. Four mile long full gauge line, steepest full gauge line in the world. Very impressive.

He held a couple of events a few years back – amazing collection of stuff, and animals galore. Very eclectic, very eccentric. More info here

here you go – roughly £1.37 each

Abebooks

i think it was the Willard Price Adventure books, with Hal and Roger getting wild animals for their father’s zoo/circus supplier

had to pick up a complete set for my son a few years back from Abebooks.

wahoo are bringing out a watch. Officially last May, so it’s a little late….

At the moment I have an Ambit3 – very good watch and GPS, but the software isn’t the best. They’re in the process of migrating the app to something else (movescount to Sports Tracker basically). If the software was good – and it promises to be (but then they all do) – the actual watch is ace.

i find the best peanut butter is the Waitrose Wholenut one. Does contain a small amount of oil, and salt. But no sugar, and it is 98% nuts.

you can hardly say the bloke in Hartlepool seemed scared; he’s walking along the street

And the chap in Victoria does seem to put some effort into producing his sample

Not that I’ve studied either video in detail you understand.

now that Hartlepool one is even worse!

Unless of course the pavement has hit him at any point in the past. In which case it deserves it.

make them think twice about doing it again

but where will it end? We’ll all be shitting on the streets. I’ll have to keep a full bowel, just in case of problems.

quite impressed he could squeeze one out so quickly. Almost doing a Paula

I’ve just put a small run of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07CJZ5KQB/ alongside our garage (there is a security light or two, but this just helps).

The difference from the others i’ve found is that these are on a dimmer switch. You can have them really quite low, so much less power and less annoyance, but enough to make things visible. I have mine on a timer, but obviously you could connect them up to a sensor. Decent amount of waterproof, decent light, etc

The only downside is the length of wire between the dimmer and the plug; i just cut it, joined another 3m wire, and then reconnected everything.

still double what I have.

The whole point of chrome (i thought…) was so you didn’t need the RAM/Memory Windows/Mac needs.

Having said that, why not if you can afford it. They’re nice machines, and will cope with everything you can throw at it.

i have the C302ca running a M7 processor. It’s got 4Gb RAM, and the normal 64Gb SSD

It’s very good. I’ve never maxed out the memory, and come nowhere near to using all the SSD.

So one with 16gb ram, and 256Gb SSD might be a bit of overkill

petec – is your little car registered as a 4 seater (see V5)

bugger

oh well – you live and learn

my little car only has two seat belts in the back. I’ve looked into it

More Passengers than Seat Belts

If there are not enough seat belts or child restraints in the car for all the passengers, then some may legally travel in the rear of the vehicle without wearing a seat belt. This may be legal, but it is not safe. Between 8 and 15 front seat occupants are killed every year by unbelted rear seat passengers flying forward in an accident.

The safest option is to only carry the same number of passengers as there are seat belts. If necessary, use two cars or make two journeys for the trip.

If you must carry a passenger for whom there is no seat belt, it is better for the heaviest passengers to wear a seat belt, because they would cause more severe injuries to other people in the car if they are thrown about in a crash.

from here 

we’ve used them for years, but i have family who works for them

Never any issues (but we’re close to newbury)

But as above, never buy a phone in a contract. Get a phone from John Lewis or something, then get a sim only plan

Small village on the Thames, surrounded by NT countryside, loads of hills and bridleways, excellent road cycling. Got a 300 acre wood out of the back door

In an AONB so won’t be built on, unlike most of the towns nearby.

The only downside – to me – is the number of deer, and the number of ticks we get just walking in the back garden

google email address pay no attention to fullstops of course

so name.surname@gmail.com is the same as NameSurname@gmail.com. Try it.

I do have quite an early gmail account, so it’s my name with middle initial. There’s the chap without the initial, and one with a second initial. We’ve all corresponded quite a lot. One’s a rugby coach in the west country, and one is a town councillor in Maine (if memory serves). It makes for an eclectic conversation.

One of the first things I did when the kids were born was sign them up for gmail with a vaguely normal address. So it’s their names as opposed to namesurname54864873873773737@gmail.com.

i went to the South Africa match a couple of weeks ago.

beware the train strike that is on.

the boy and I got the tube from town (having come into Paddington), and went to Richmond. Had a good lunch (a lot quieter than Twickenham, and more selection). Then walked it, about 35 minutes

Afterwards, did the same. The road follows the trainline, and even my son said ‘god, I’m glad I’m not on that train’. They looked horrendously busy ,and obviously that didn’t include the queues to get on.

Back to Richmond, waited two minutes for the waiting tube to leave. Had seats. Much more civilised.