Seemingly trivial things that cheer you up

surrey_commuter

verylonglegs said:

surrey_commuter said:

verylonglegs said:

surrey_commuter said:

verylonglegs said:

surrey_commuter said:

verylonglegs said:

Stevo_666 said:

verylonglegs said:

It is funny reading about people living in and just outside the M25 talking about 'too rural'...'not rural enough'. I mean..what?!

You live in Norfolk as I recall. That explains a lot

Indeed, when I'm travelling long distance to anywhere else in the UK it's an hours drive to even get out of the county. There is a Waitrose five miles from me though, I think it's a comfort blanket for all the second home owners from London along the coast.

Only one Waitrose within 5 miles is the sticks, past that is banjo country.

Another measure would be frosts - at a guess SteveO may not even own a windscreen scraper as he will only get 1-2 frosts a year, when he moves to the sticks he will see dozens.

Ha, I was scraping my windscreen a few mornings even last week

Whereabouts in Norfolk are you?

I grew up in Norwich then parents moved to nr Swaffham and then Bungay so I know something about the sticks, banjo country and frozen tundra

I'm out near North Walsham. We're having one of those springs where the cold wind coming off the North Sea just will not go away.

Only time I ventured out Swaffham way was for county cup football matches in the various villages where a team of super fit agricultural type lads would invariably completely work us over.

we moved to Norfolk becuase my dad got a job at Crane Fruehauf in N. Walsham. Always used to go to the beach at Waxham/Sea Palling and sample the delights of the Jewel of the North Norfolk coast.

By strange coincidence the Waitrose I referred to previously was built on the old Crane Fruehauf site there.

It must have been a blow to the town when that factory shut but at least Waitrose will provide some jobs

womack

Hedgehogs

pinno

shirley_basso said:

pblakeney said:

Who thinks they can average 18 mph? Quite a few I imagine.
Who thinks they can do 320 miles a day. Significantly less I imagine.
Who thinks they can do both simultaneously?
Seven days in a row?
You have to admire the ambition.
More so given his history.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-56802796

Absolutely beautiful cycling around there - I spent lockdown 1 cycling those roads.

Not flat, mind you!

Surely find a flatter route. A bit bonkers but good luck to him nonetheless.

rjsterry

surrey_commuter said:

rjsterry said:

elbowloh said:

We go to Blakeney and Horsey at least once a year. Had an ex who was from Holt, so used to go there/Cromer/Sheringham quite a lot also. Really like it round there. Yarmouth is bloody weird though, right?

Also did the Broads in a river boat in stag do once.

If we're doing Norfolk nostalgia, my grandfather carved the village sign in Overstrand where he lived, just along from Cromer. I have plenty of childhood memories of the seemingly endless drive from Bristol and windswept trips to the beach in winter.

My mum and aunt bought a place in Overstrand, I used to love it in winter with the waves smashing into the sea wall. I haven’t been in 30 years but doubt much has changed except more falling into the sea.

Mundesley Road by any chance? Must get back there some time to show the littluns where there great grandparents used to live.

focuszing723

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH3u9iiY_CA

People like this getting $h1t done.

surrey_commuter

rjsterry said:

surrey_commuter said:

rjsterry said:

elbowloh said:

We go to Blakeney and Horsey at least once a year. Had an ex who was from Holt, so used to go there/Cromer/Sheringham quite a lot also. Really like it round there. Yarmouth is bloody weird though, right?

Also did the Broads in a river boat in stag do once.

If we're doing Norfolk nostalgia, my grandfather carved the village sign in Overstrand where he lived, just along from Cromer. I have plenty of childhood memories of the seemingly endless drive from Bristol and windswept trips to the beach in winter.

My mum and aunt bought a place in Overstrand, I used to love it in winter with the waves smashing into the sea wall. I haven’t been in 30 years but doubt much has changed except more falling into the sea.

Mundesley Road by any chance? Must get back there some time to show the littluns where there great grandparents used to live.

Just had to check Google Maps and it was Pauls Lane ( the road out on the Cromer side). Was very surprised that the cliff top cafe has not become the beach cafe.

Also seems the hotel/motel/caravan site that I remember behind her place burned down in 1990

orraloon

Tania de Sales Marques, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said: "Since the peak occurs during the day the best time to try to spot the shower will be before sunrise on the 22nd or after sunset.
"It is expected that this meteor shower will produce around 18 meteors per hour."
But she said the Moon will be bright in the sky because it is at a waxing gibbons phase, "so conditions won't be very favourable".

This from BBC News website. Waxing gibbons. 😊

briantrumpet

orraloon said:

Tania de Sales Marques, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said: "Since the peak occurs during the day the best time to try to spot the shower will be before sunrise on the 22nd or after sunset.
"It is expected that this meteor shower will produce around 18 meteors per hour."
But she said the Moon will be bright in the sky because it is at a waxing gibbons phase, "so conditions won't be very favourable".

This from BBC News website. Waxing gibbons. 😊

Might be a bit of a niche market, but maybe they think they are a bit too hairy for the 21st century...

pinno

A waxing gibbous moon is in the sky when darkness falls. It lights up the early evening. It appears more than half lighted, but less than full. A waxing gibbous moon comes between first quarter moon and full moon.

pblakeney

I prefer to think about a funky gibbon waxing himself. 😉

pinno

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAPumW_wYKc

elbowloh

Alan Partridge appears to have had a successful pitch. Just seen that Caravan Holidays with Shane Ritchie is on today on C5

kingstongraham

elbowloh said:

Alan Partridge appears to have had a successful pitch. Just seen that Caravan Holidays with Shane Ritchie is on today on C5

Is that the covid compliant replacement for Cruising with Jane Mcdonald?

pblakeney

Discovering that I am KOM on a 3 mile+ Strava section.
That happens but usually only temporarily. I've had this one for nearly 6 years. 😱

focuszing723

It looks like the wayward Chinese rocket won't anywhere near the UK, which is nice.

pinno

Submitted my SA.

Yay!

briantrumpet

Having a wonky house...

I'm putting up some bookshelves in the bedroom, and because corners are not square, and walls aren't exactly vertical, I've got the perfect excuse for my slightly approximate woodwork. My musician friend who's a cabinet maker too would be appalled, given that he works to tolerances of a few 1000ths of an inch; a few millimetres is close enough for me, as long as it doesn't all fall down.

briantrumpet

pinno said:

Submitted my SA.

Yay!

Beat you by about four weeks. I really don't know what came over me.

morstar

Got mine in sharpish due to being owed a big rebate on pension contribution.

pinno

briantrumpet said:

pinno said:

Submitted my SA.

Yay!

Beat you by about four weeks. I really don't know what came over me.

Me neither.
I guess I had to shed that cloud that was following me around.

briantrumpet

Project (slightly wonky) Bookshelves complete. I just ought to learn to read now. I'm not really into DIY, so this does cheer me up, especially on a rainy day.

rjsterry

Very nice. Didn't you say your house was built of cobb? If so I hope you've got some nice long fixings - books are heavy.

briantrumpet

rjsterry said:

Very nice. Didn't you say your house was built of cobb? If so I hope you've got some nice long fixings - books are heavy.

I think the dividing walls aren't cob, and I certainly didn't get any straw out when I drilled into them. In any (book)case, the weight is essentially going straight down onto the floorboards via the waste pipe cover underneath, and the several wall fixings are there to give it rigidity and prevent toppling. It's always a voyage of discovery when you start making holes in old houses.

I remember that when I had my kitchen extension done, the builder, who has extensive experience of cob, simply hammered 2ft-long threaded rods into the cob to fix the wallplate onto, the weight of the roof keeping it in place: it didn't take much hammering.

elbowloh

Not sure what you guys mean by cob, but certainly understand the issues with old houses.

We made a hole in the wall in wall to the eaves in the house I grew up in, and it was wattle and daub with horse hair in
the plaster and everything.

rjsterry

Cobb is mud (clay) and straw to bind it together.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cob_(material)

pangolin

50% of the holes I drill seem to go into black dust rather than brick. If attaching something like a wardrobe to a wall where the fixing points are in a... fixed... spot I've taken to screwing some wood to the wall first so I can find good anchoring points then attaching the wardrobe to that.

briantrumpet

elbowloh said:

Not sure what you guys mean by cob, but certainly understand the issues with old houses.

We made a hole in the wall in wall to the eaves in the house I grew up in, and it was wattle and daub with horse hair in
the plaster and everything.

There's a lot of cob in Devon - the building material (mud) was usually dug up nearby (leaving a pond hollow very often), mixed with straw, cattle penned in to trample/mix it (hence there might be a little added 'organic' material), then layered up. It's pretty good insulation (the walls are about 2ft thick), and it's easy to make into interesting shapes. For some time some local authorities wouldn't consent to it being used for new build, as it doesn't have a standard strength, but given that most of Devon's many cob house are centuries old (just ignore the odd one that falls down), it can't be too bad.

I taught the son of the chap that built this modern cob house: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6341367/Grand-Designs-return-cob-house-broke-family-best-ever.html

pinno

briantrumpet said:

elbowloh said:

Not sure what you guys mean by cob, but certainly understand the issues with old houses.

We made a hole in the wall in wall to the eaves in the house I grew up in, and it was wattle and daub with horse hair in
the plaster and everything.

There's a lot of cob in Devon - the building material (mud) was usually dug up nearby (leaving a pond hollow very often), mixed with straw, cattle penned in to trample/mix it (hence there might be a little added 'organic' material), then layered up. It's pretty good insulation (the walls are about 2ft thick), and it's easy to make into interesting shapes. For some time some local authorities wouldn't consent to it being used for new build, as it doesn't have a standard strength, but given that most of Devon's many cob house are centuries old (just ignore the odd one that falls down), it can't be too bad.

I taught the son of the chap that built this modern cob house: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6341367/Grand-Designs-return-cob-house-broke-family-best-ever.html

Just watched that episode, fascinating.

Mail link doesn't like had blokker.

Wheelspinner

Just browsing on CRC for a few odds and ends I may need to buy and I saw this option. Possibly a touch over-priced...

pinno

Surely that's a decimal point or two put of place?

Cinelli cork gel tape to buffer those dodgy bits WS.