thursday beside reality and outside sanity

sungod

'ning

wfh, office of gmc later, punters of gmc punter of gmc being annoying, now rescheduled cloudy cloudy demo to tomorrow ffs, i'm upping the price a few k to compensate for the annoyance

got stuff being delivered this morning, a degree of chaos moving things around, just what i really want before crimbo

advent calendar choc soon

tlw1

Hybrid commute today as I need to wake up after late night and early morning

Still doesn't feel like Christmas

lincolndave

Morning, it’s more like a monsoon season here rather than Christmas season, more shopping to do , there’s just 7 of us for Christmas , we already have enough food for 20 people.
Hoping this rain is going to stop some time soon

Matthewfalle

Utterly honking outside. Curled up on couch drinking coffe and watching Penguins of Madagascar. Will go and do weights session in a bit but fully intend to stay out of the honkingness.

sungod

now in post-delivery re-organization phase, mrs s spouting nonsense about getting rid of stuff we don't need (i.e. mostly my stuff)

off to cafe

Flâneur

oxoman wrote:

Feeling wanted for a change.

That include the OH?

Morning ladies and gents. I shall clear my desk this morning (into the bin) then I'll go to Hicks with some of the crowd for a lunch prior to hitting the gym and not caring about the office until 2018 (that isn't true, some idiot gave me an interview with some media outlets regarding essay mills so I'll need to prep)

New rear mech arrives later and the presents for The Date, hopefully gift wrapped already.
Sungod - the calendar at work? How does it not get stolen

Enjoy your films MF, and the train Lincoln.

hopkinb

Train w@nkered to work with MiniH3 to drop her with grandmother. They're going to the nutcracker at the ROH.

Ping pong with school dads later.

Matthewfalle

Flâneur wrote:

oxoman wrote:

Feeling wanted for a change.

That include the OH?

Morning ladies and gents. I shall clear my desk this morning (into the bin) then I'll go to Hicks with some of the crowd for a lunch prior to hitting the gym and not caring about the office until 2018 (that isn't true, some idiot gave me an interview with some media outlets regarding essay mills so I'll need to prep)

New rear mech arrives later and the presents for The Date, hopefully gift wrapped already.
Sungod - the calendar at work? How does it not get stolen

Enjoy your films MF, and the train Lincoln.

Thank you!

Matthewfalle

Bb fitted into new TT bike. What a productive morning.

I may get around to fitting my luscious carbon Fulcrum cranks in at some point.

sungod

Flâneur wrote:

Sungod - the calendar at work? How does it not get stolen

safely at home, which reminds me, choc time!

Stevo_666

Work at home today so bit of a lie in, last trip to the dentist for the year so I now have a fully reconstructed molar rather than a gap.

Doing a bit of tidying up work-wise and making sure things are suitably teflon desked, delegated or put on hold over Christmas. Should be quite relaxing but can't have coffee until late morning when the bonding on the tooth has set properly. Ho hum.

Starting to feel quite festive now despite the greyness outside.

veronese68

Morning folks,
Traditional Thursday mild hangover is present and correct. Very noisy in the pub last night as there was a Christmas party in half of it. 'Tis the season for others to drink as much as TLW does all the time. Rather dark and drizzly for the wobble in to work this morning, rather warm though. Shouldn't be too busy today so I can shirk and eat cake to my heart's content. Bought a Pandoro in to share so will crack that open shortly. Might need someone to go and make me a cup of tea first.

hopkinb wrote:

Ping pong with school dads later.

Piña can give you some instruction if you ask him nicely.

Stevo_666

Veronese68 wrote:

hopkinb wrote:

Ping pong with school dads later.

Piña can give you some instruction if you ask him nicely.

Depends whether it's the version of ping pong that Pinno teaches, or the Thai version

hopkinb

Veronese68 wrote:

Morning folks,
Traditional Thursday mild hangover is present and correct. Very noisy in the pub last night as there was a Christmas party in half of it. 'Tis the season for others to drink as much as TLW does all the time. Rather dark and drizzly for the wobble in to work this morning, rather warm though. Shouldn't be too busy today so I can shirk and eat cake to my heart's content. Bought a Pandoro in to share so will crack that open shortly. Might need someone to go and make me a cup of tea first.

hopkinb wrote:

Ping pong with school dads later.

Piña can give you some instruction if you ask him nicely.

I'm basically assuming that I will be brilliant. Or discover that I'm cr@p and just get p!ssed.

seanoconn

hopkinb wrote:

Train w@nkered to work with MiniH3 to drop her with grandmother. They're going to the nutcracker at the ROH.

Ping pong with school dads later.

Ooh ping pong! Iove ping pong, I spent 5 years training at a Buddhist temple in Siberia, but instead of wooden bats we had to hunt and kill vampire bats with our bare hands, which we would then fashion into bat shapes. We used hand grenades instead of balls which made the rallies really short and exciting. Needless to say I'm
Pretty awesome 8)

Picking up the in laws from Gatwick this evening, think I'll need a holiday after this week.

Flâneur

oxoman wrote:

Cheers Flan. Yes even the OH. Looks like your very local to me.

Work in the provincial Roman town, live by the seaside on the peninsula. Nearest trail centre would be Degla. Should help you work out if your thought is correct.

PS meant rain not Train regarding the weather earlier.

haydenm

oxoman wrote:

Certainly surprised me looking online how many engineers required. Feeling wanted for a change.

What sort of engineering if you don't mind me asking? My dad and the OH's dad have retired from aerospace companies in the last 5 years and been contracting on and off since. They were both quote surprised at the amount of work there was going, especially the OH's dad working in the North of England.

Last day today, then off down to my brother's to see his new house and get hammered in celebration of his recent engagement. Also, finally being paid my first time home buyers ISA bonus today despite moving in in February, complete shambles

haydenm

oxoman wrote:

Hayden, Currently Multi Skilled Maintenance Engineer although originally electrically qualified first. Currently within GMC Food and Beverage FMCG sector although did 19yrs Automotive and 9yrs contracting through apprenticeship and beyond so can pretty much do anything I need. Suspect I may look at management again if I find the right place. No rush to leave yet. Let's see what the New Year brings. Massive shortage of experienced engineers of all trades, the younger ones only now how to replace stuff and not necessarily repair or improve. Sadly a sign of modern training regimes.

Good luck anyway. My dad/OH's dad were both design engineers and my friend who has worked for EON, Rolls Royce and Renishaw is struggling to get any of them to help him through a degree despite him being the cleverest lad through school. With his grades he should have gone to Oxford but his dad told him doing an apprenticeship was better, he regrets it unfortunately

keef66

HaydenM wrote:

Also, finally being paid my first time home buyers ISA bonus today despite moving in in February, complete shambles

At least you're getting it. Eldest son and his GF both had them, but ended up having to pay considerably more than £250k for their first home* and so don't qualify for a penny. And then to rub salt in the wound they completed the month before the stamp duty bung. Annoyed doesn't come close.

*due mainly to it having to be near a station since she won't drive and works in London

homers_double

Bah humbug... We thought we'd got organised by doing our Christmas food shop online. Went to add a few more items to the basket for delivery tomorrow only to find out half of it's now out of stock and unavailable.

I shall now spend the rest of the afternoon fashioning a snow plow for my shopping trolley and hit the aisles around 9pm tonight!

Matthewfalle

oxoman wrote:

My eldest is currently doing C&G electronic and electrical engineering at college and trying to get an apprenticeship, nobody will take kids on till they're 18 and the governments paid for the first 2 yrs of their training. He will effectively come out as qualified but with no experience. Hopefully he will pick something up, he was advised away from degree level as the biggest shortage is for hands on apprenticeship trained engineers.

Get him to join the RAF - they will get him through everything, it’s a brilliant life and he’ll meet top people and make great contacts while seeing the world from the luxury of a 5 Star hotel and a 4 day working week.

No brained when it comes to this sort of stuff.

thistle_

Afternoon,

Flâneur wrote:

oxoman wrote:

Cheers Flan. Yes even the OH. Looks like your very local to me.

Work in the provincial Roman town

Ditto

Flâneur wrote:

Nearest trail centre would be Degla.

That's where I've been all morning. Finished up less muddy than on yesterday's road ride :roll:
Nobody told me their rocky road cake had haribo in it, would explain why it felt like a brick.

Pringles and a nap this afternoon I think.

keef66

oxoman wrote:

My eldest is currently doing C&G electronic and electrical engineering at college and trying to get an apprenticeship, nobody will take kids on till they're 18 and the governments paid for the first 2 yrs of their training. He will effectively come out as qualified but with no experience. Hopefully he will pick something up, he was advised away from degree level as the biggest shortage is for hands on apprenticeship trained engineers.

We're just not very joined up in the UK. Too much emphasis on getting as many young people as possible to university and in to debt rather than preparing them for the world of work. Bugger all in terms of vocational training, apprenticeships etc. And then we wonder why we have graduates working in McDonalds, and we don't have enough tradesmen and engineers.

My German colleague says it's all more cohesive over there. Youngsters are streamed according to their merits, abilities / skills, interests etc. Only the most academic go on to university, but there's a wide range of less cerebral and more practical options to choose from, and courses / apprenticeships seem to be linked to jobs / employers. You could dismiss it as elitist, but I just think it sounds sensible.

His own son did something like an HNC in electronic engineering, which included some time working in industry, and he knew he had a (well paid, apparently) job with Siemens at the end of it. Something to do with the safety and signalling on the railways.

haydenm

keef66 wrote:

HaydenM wrote:

Also, finally being paid my first time home buyers ISA bonus today despite moving in in February, complete shambles

At least you're getting it. Eldest son and his GF both had them, but ended up having to pay considerably more than £250k for their first home* and so don't qualify for a penny. And then to rub salt in the wound they completed the month before the stamp duty bung. Annoyed doesn't come close.

*due mainly to it having to be near a station since she won't drive and works in London

I can see how that would be slightly annoying! Luckily houses are dirt cheap here so we are living in a lovely house for 2/3rds of the max allowed, the downside is that it's Scotland (if that is a downside to you)... Our solicitor messed up, they said they would pay but asked us to complain about our bank first, the financial ombudsman said there was nothing they could do so complain to the law ombudsman and we might get our fees back too. Obviously out solicitor pleaded we didn't do that and I felt like we would be going back on what we agreed previously so I now finally have extra cash in the new bike fund. Complete waste of money for the government (although in this case they didn't pay out) but I guess it got us saving seriously

thistle (MBNW) wrote:

Flâneur wrote:

Nearest trail centre would be Degla.

That's where I've been all morning. Finished up less muddy than on yesterday's road ride :roll:
Nobody told me their rocky road cake had haribo in it, would explain why it felt like a brick.

Pringles and a nap this afternoon I think.

Sorry about the diversions...

thistle_

HaydenM wrote:

Sorry about the diversions...

We were wondering where the forest had gone.

The fence at JJs was flattened and ended up going straight over it, but decided it probably wasn't the best place for an "oh sh*t tree" moment. The one at the start of the back was OK, just like the ultimate CX swamp.

How come 500 m of trail is closed for months because of 2 fallen trees, but you can clear half the forest in 2 weeks?

Matthewfalle

Stupid fukkking cranks. Bloody Italians.

Flâneur

Matthewfalle wrote:

oxoman wrote:

My eldest is currently doing C&G electronic and electrical engineering at college and trying to get an apprenticeship, nobody will take kids on till they're 18 and the governments paid for the first 2 yrs of their training. He will effectively come out as qualified but with no experience. Hopefully he will pick something up, he was advised away from degree level as the biggest shortage is for hands on apprenticeship trained engineers.

Get him to join the RAF - they will get him through everything, it’s a brilliant life and he’ll meet top people and make great contacts while seeing the world from the luxury of a 5 Star hotel and a 4 day working week.

No brained when it comes to this sort of stuff.

Nailed on. Used to advise people who wanted this or med to look at the forces, especially if they were concerned about money

pinno

Matthewfalle wrote:

Stupid fukkking cranks. Bloody Italians.

Do you know what you're doing?

Me playing cheeky chopper me. Cutting wood all day and no frilly knickers and any see through bra's were involved.

Missed the RAF engineers by a whisker. Could have gone to Loughborough after doing my Diploma and although they offered me a place, my physics would have meant going down the route of Civil engineering and I would rather not look at cracks in bridges or sit the surveying certificate.
Mate got a job at Renishaw after doing his year placement with them. Good company.

Anyway, i'm fooked.

Laters.

Wheelspinner

Matthewfalle wrote:

Get him to join the RAF - they will get him through everything, it’s a brilliant life and he’ll meet top people and make great contacts while seeing the world from the luxury of a 5 Star hotel and a 4 day working week.

No brained when it comes to this sort of stuff.

Sums up the military quite nicely I think. :twisted:

Matthewfalle

Pinno wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

Stupid fukkking cranks. Bloody Italians.

Do you know what you're doing?
.

Yup - they are just being a pain in the backside and pesky.

pinno

oxoman wrote:

Having a couple of lads I work with being ex raf and army they suggested navy as a more all round training with more how to make something out of nothing rather than wait for the correct parts. Will see how he goes.

Yep, modern times means they are fitters rather than fixers.
However, from my experience at RAF Aberystwyth when I went there for my interview, some of the apprentices were making 2 stroke engines from scratch and basic jet turbines, so i;m not sure they can say that unless things have changed.