Mundane facts about your day...

[staffordjas]

After years of struggling to open the clip parts of my clip-on sunvisors with my nails, to get onto my driving varifocals..... just discovered the 'nuisance knobbly thing' on top of them actually opens the clip with one gentle squeeze

Been shopping to re-stock with cat food for the thin , boney, scruff puss (seemingly stray , if it has an owner it's been neglected) that comes visiting and being looked out for by a few of us in the area. After finishing off the remaining cat biscuits yesterday, he got treated to some best ham . Then some more ham to lure him back out of my house which he seemed to think he liked the look of after a good nose around .

Didn't think hubby would appreciate 'ham-less' ham sandwiches in his lunch box tomorrow

 

[Thehooperman]

Went for a wander around here this morning before the sun disappeared.

Then drove back via the Black Mountain pass which was good fun until my accelerator stuck on full coming down the other side.

Luckily it happened on a straight bit of road and I could coast most of the way into the next village. Car now in a Swansea garage but they say they should have it sorted today. I hope so cos I now need to buy some new underwear

 

[proactive]

Went for a wander around here this morning before the sun disappeared.

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Then drove back via the Black Mountain pass which was good fun until my accelerator stuck on full coming down the other side.

Luckily it happened on a straight bit of road and I could coast most of the way into the next village. Car now in a Swansea garage but they say they should have it sorted today. I hope so cos I now need to buy some new underwear

 

[BobClay]

Have to say on the strength of that I've decided to have a couple of days in the Brecon Beacons next week. Been a few years since I've been that way and since I nuked my back a couple of weeks ago I'll have to steer clear of Snowdonia for a while. I'll have a look at that road (and get in some astronaut style highly absorbent underpants in case of accelerator troubles. )

 

[Thehooperman]

Have to say on the strength of that I've decided to have a couple of days in the Brecon Beacons next week. Been a few years since I've been that way and since I nuked my back a couple of weeks ago I'll have to steer clear of Snowdonia for a while. I'll have a look at that road (and get in some astronaut style highly absorbent underpants in case of accelerator troubles. )

It's a good walking area for those of us with gammy joints, hips, backs , etc. I've found a few well within my current capabilities and a few more stretching ones which is good. If you do come this way I would recommend trying the drive along the A4061 from Nant y Moel to Treorchy as well as the Black Mountain pass.

 

[staffordjas]

Started refilling my newly emptied bin with hubbys works rubbish! He's like a Magpie!!! Clearing out his and others old desk drawers ready for when his department goes at the end of the year, he's brought home all sort of "Look what I found, it could come in useful" crap.
A packet of 6 assorted cereal boxes, use by date April 2015.
Loads of rusty bulldog clips, which have stained my cream coloured kitchen top as they got wet.
An ancient camera
Ancient battery pack , which when I googled how to use it found they have caught fire in the past.
Big old smelly calculator, which has left black marks on my kitchen top.
Packet of soup , expiry date 2015
Scrap paper
Old musty smelling box files
Rusty screws, nails, pens

I hate to think what else has been smuggled in and hidden (he thinks) so that I don't go any madder

 

[BobClay]

Yesterday I visited the Fleet Air Arm Museum near Yeovil. A really very impressive museum detailing the history of aerial warfare at sea. Alas the one iconic aircraft I wanted to photograph was unavailable as they were doing some work on it. The Fairey Swordfish. So amidst all these gleaming quite beautiful aircraft why would a little more than 100 mph open cockpit biplane become an 'icon.'
One of these clipped the Bismarck with a torpedo and damaged her steering gear. This pretty much left her helpless in the water allowing the Home Fleet to come down on her. A group of these 'stringbags' attacked the Italian Fleet at anchor in Taranto and did a 'Pearl Harbour' a year before the Japanese attack.

Still I got to get aboard a Concorde, numbered 002. The British prototype. This one is packed to the gills with test equipment (the huge boxes and computers about the equivalent of two modern laptops … this is 50 year old technology.) You literally have to crouch down to get on the tiny flight deck. As you can see in the pix, it's not unlike the dashboard of my old 'Del Boy' Reliant Regal Van. Maybe a couple of extra knobs and dials. That pix had to be taken through a sheet of Perspex I suspect to stop people hurting themselves trying to get into one of the seats. It is literally like trying to get into a cobby sleeping bag.

 

[BobClay]

Oh, and if you're wondering how a Concorde got into the Fleet Air Arm Museum, well … that's another story.

 

[staffordjas]

Got brand new phone , and actually able to work it straight away thanks to the very helpful staff in Tesco Mobile setting it all up , backing up and updating everything ( that I should have been doing over the last 18 months and didnt realise it needed doing...) and transferring everything over so that I'm good to go

Old one packed in and was too hot to hold on a call this morning. Switched it off to walk down there to save a drama with my handbag on fire.

 

[littleme]

Got brand new phone , and actually able to work it straight away thanks to the very helpful staff in Tesco Mobile setting it all up , backing up and updating everything ( that I should have been doing over the last 18 months and didnt realise it needed doing...) and transferring everything over so that I'm good to go

Old one packed in and was too hot to hold on a call this morning. Switched it off to walk down there to save a drama with my handbag on fire.

Tesco mobile staff are Great, always happy to help if you have a problem too.

 

[Thehooperman]

I've just witnessed 4 £45 tickets for the Stereophonics at Singleton Park on Sat sell for £600 EACH in cash!!!! The snobby knobber that bought them then started asking if he'd bought VIP tickets, 5 minutes after the sharp exit from the pub by the now rather wealthy,note laden ticket tout.

A young local lady I've been talking to today says there is an unofficial BBQ and party on the beach where you can hear the concert at full volume anyway and all for free.

I may just become a ticket tout for the evening on Sat OR it could be a Morfa stadium 1999 type thing that you need to say "I was there" type concert.

Wish I bought the max 4 tickets now

 

[Perrier]

ive just met @Cue

We had so much in common tech wise it was scarey , it was like looking at a thinner and more polite version of myself lol
He loved the Hue setup but i think the cinema room blew his mind

Hope everything goes ok with the server mate , speak again soon.

 

[Cue]

it was like looking at a thinner and more polite version of myself lol

Is that a compliment or an insult?

 

[Perrier]

Is that a compliment or an insult?

Definitely a compliment

..... once you've paid me I'll find something to insult you then

 

[BobClay]

Well here's a day for the books. This morning I got sacked !!!

Sacked is probably a hard word, more 'replaced.'

Ten years ago when I was still working at a community college, the local village school asked if I'd come in and check over a few things on their computer network. They wanted to update. So on a purely casual basis at £10.00 an hour, no call out fee I obliged. This eventually led to me installing a new computer suite, first one Windows Server and then another. Running Cat 5's to where they were needed and setting up Wifi throughout the school (just a small primary/junior school with four big classrooms and a couple of little offshoots.) Then setting up two trolley loads of laptops a few years ago so they could do computer work in all classrooms.

But recently everything has been ticking over nicely, in fact this term I've only put in 8 hours, mostly laptop repairs. (Still I might add at £10.00 an hour.) It was all done on a very casual basis and I wasn't doing it for the money, just to keep my hand in really. If they needed something they gave me a shout.

I retired from my full time job 7 years ago, and although it sounds strange, I've always had a feeling I wasn't contributing, guilt ? … because I wasn't working and have comfortable pensions to live on. So this little bit of school work off set that a bit. (You might think that sounds odd, but if you've worked all your life and you suddenly find you have all this free time while everybody else is going to work, you do feel surprisingly guilty .. at least I did.)

The Head was most apologetic, and assured me it wasn't because they were in anyway dissatisfied, just that the County Council had decided to 'rationalise' and put all the ICT maintenance services to schools under one company rather than leave the school's to sort it out themselves.

Probably the last job I'll ever have at 72 years old, and I've been SACKED !!! Kicked into touch !! Thrown onto the scrap heap !!

If that's not an excuse for a piss up I don't know what is …

Sunday …. Brecon Beacons here I f****** come !!!

 

[Thehooperman]

Well here's a day for the books. This morning I got sacked !!!

Sacked is probably a hard word, more 'replaced.'

Ten years ago when I was still working at a community college, the local village school asked if I'd come in and check over a few things on their computer network. They wanted to update. So on a purely casual basis at £10.00 an hour, no call out fee I obliged. This eventually led to me installing a new computer suite, first one Windows Server and then another. Running Cat 5's to where they were needed and setting up Wifi throughout the school (just a small primary/junior school with four big classrooms and a couple of little offshoots.) Then setting up two trolley loads of laptops a few years ago so they could do computer work in all classrooms.

But recently everything has been ticking over nicely, in fact this term I've only put in 8 hours, mostly laptop repairs. (Still I might add at £10.00 an hour.) It was all done on a very casual basis and I wasn't doing it for the money, just to keep my hand in really. If they needed something they gave me a shout.

I retired from my full time job 7 years ago, and although it sounds strange, I've always had a feeling I wasn't contributing, guilt ? … because I wasn't working and have comfortable pensions to live on. So this little bit of school work off set that a bit. (You might think that sounds odd, but if you've worked all your life and you suddenly find you have all this free time while everybody else is going to work, you do feel surprisingly guilty .. at least I did.)

The Head was most apologetic, and assured me it wasn't because they were in anyway dissatisfied, just that the County Council had decided to 'rationalise' and put all the ICT maintenance services to schools under one company rather than leave the school's to sort it out themselves.

Probably the last job I'll ever have at 72 years old, and I've been SACKED !!! Kicked into touch !! Thrown onto the scrap heap !!

If that's not an excuse for a piss up I don't know what is …

Sunday …. Brecon Beacons here I f****** come !!!

If you want to call in via the Mumbles on Sunday I can offer beers, coffee or maybe a BBQ as a consolation.

It makes me wonder how these financial gurus do their sums when they let contracts to single contractors. Surely the benefits of having someone local and at relatively low cost is better than letting a multi hundred/thousand pound contract to one organisation.

We have a similar thing in the rail industry where the cheapest tenderer always gets the framework contracts regardless of whether they're actually compliant.They then claim massive variations and leave the engineers to sort out the mess.

Enjoy your time off and I'm sure you have absolutely nothing to feel guilty about.

 

[BobClay]

Don't think I'm upset about this, I'm really not. Fact is I'm kind of relieved. The guilt feelings have slowly leaked away and I figure after 50+ years of working, including 21 years at sea, I've done my whack.

Still reasonably fit apart from various bits dropping off … (soon fixed, araldite and duck tape jobs ) … and I can retire to this radio shack with a good rifle in case I'm interrupted. (It's not real … but it feels good … )

I'm in this room now and I can hurl abuse at people all over the world with this kit.

 

[staffordjas]

Still reasonably fit apart from various bits dropping off …

My mind is working overtime visualising which 'bits'

 

[staffordjas]

Well....... after ages in a phone queue and then being told they are now closed... decided to ask a question on their online 'speak to our virtual assistant, who will answer your questions'

 

[BobClay]

For those with an Amazon Echo, (Alexa) … ask her this question:

"Alexa. Open the pod bay doors."