Things you have recently learnt

pblakeney

bompington said:

orraloon said:

That (an) Arab Strap, the Scottish band with the shall I say down to basics lyrics, is also a sexual device, indeed a C ring. Who knew? Not me obvs.

I'd always just assumed they were Dundee United fans.

Still, in the music world nothing would surprise me: I'm a bit of a closet ZZ top fan and I long ago just started assuming that more or less every lyric was a double entendre.

I am assuming that you are familiar with AC/DC lyrics?

Pross

pblakeney said:

bompington said:

orraloon said:

That (an) Arab Strap, the Scottish band with the shall I say down to basics lyrics, is also a sexual device, indeed a C ring. Who knew? Not me obvs.

I'd always just assumed they were Dundee United fans.

Still, in the music world nothing would surprise me: I'm a bit of a closet ZZ top fan and I long ago just started assuming that more or less every lyric was a double entendre.

I am assuming that you are familiar with AC/DC lyrics?

I'm not sure there's much double entendre in 'she told me to come but I was already there'!

pblakeney

Pross said:

pblakeney said:

bompington said:

orraloon said:

That (an) Arab Strap, the Scottish band with the shall I say down to basics lyrics, is also a sexual device, indeed a C ring. Who knew? Not me obvs.

I'd always just assumed they were Dundee United fans.

Still, in the music world nothing would surprise me: I'm a bit of a closet ZZ top fan and I long ago just started assuming that more or less every lyric was a double entendre.

I am assuming that you are familiar with AC/DC lyrics?

I'm not sure there's much double entendre in 'she told me to come but I was already there'!

Depends on how your mind works! 😉
Nobody mentioned subtlety. 🤣

Stevo_666

ZZ Top - great band. Even if they weren't, the videos were worth watching anyway.

briantrumpet

rjsterry said:

Floella Benjamin is 71 today.

You're welcome.

I directed the music for about 200 graduations while she was chancellor of Exeter University. She was amazing, didn't miss a single ceremony, and hadn't really aged since she was on Play School. She's the loveliest person.

rick_chasey

https://twitter.com/peston/status/1308888709895520257?s=21

Modern politics is weird

tailwindhome

Charles and Diana were the same height.

rjsterry

briantrumpet said:

rjsterry said:

Floella Benjamin is 71 today.

You're welcome.

I directed the music for about 200 graduations while she was chancellor of Exeter University. She was amazing, didn't miss a single ceremony, and hadn't really aged since she was on Play School. She's the loveliest person.

Indeed. I'm pretty sure there must be a painting in an attic or something, though.

tailwindhome

Leaving a job and preparing handover notes is a right PITA

TheBigBean

tailwindhome said:

Leaving a job and preparing handover notes is a right PITA

What's your next industry going to be if you are resigning from the post of BR's NI hospitality expert?

tailwindhome

TheBigBean said:

tailwindhome said:

Leaving a job and preparing handover notes is a right PITA

What's your next industry going to be if you are resigning from the post of BR's NI hospitality expert?

Drinks supplier, so tangential to the hospitality trade.

Ideally I'd have been looking to go to a bigger hotel property but scoop is rather limited in NI

tailwindhome

Miss Piggy's surname is Lee.

briantrumpet

That chimneys like the below were later additions (16th/17th century) to houses to replace what were essentially holes in the roofs of medieval houses, and became a status symbol, hence their visibility. I hadn't realised quite how late 'proper' fireplaces & chimneys were.

capt_slog

rjsterry said:

briantrumpet said:

rjsterry said:

Floella Benjamin is 71 today.

You're welcome.

I directed the music for about 200 graduations while she was chancellor of Exeter University. She was amazing, didn't miss a single ceremony, and hadn't really aged since she was on Play School. She's the loveliest person.

Indeed. I'm pretty sure there must be a painting in an attic or something, though.

Thinking back to Playschool, I'm not sure what it will look like

dennisn

That YOU are the only person that cares about YOUR Strava stats. Having to listen to ANYONE going on about their Strava stats has got to be the most boring thing in cycling.

shimanobottombracket

Liopleurodon wasn't as large as was originally thought.

Ben6899

Yesterday, I learnt that there's a beauty salon at the Archway end of the Junction Road, called... "Stasi".

I'm not letting those people anywhere near my fingernails.

morstar

Ben6899 said:

Yesterday, I learnt that there's a beauty salon at the Archway end of the Junction Road, called... "Stasi".

I'm not letting those people anywhere near my fingernails.

Probably one of those scenarios where somebody just thought it sounded exotic.

I think it is the Aussie sitcom Cath and Kim where they try to come up with an exotic name for a child and one of them suggests Chlamydia.

orraloon

morstar said:

Ben6899 said:

Yesterday, I learnt that there's a beauty salon at the Archway end of the Junction Road, called... "Stasi".

I'm not letting those people anywhere near my fingernails.

Probably one of those scenarios where somebody just thought it sounded exotic.

I think it is the Aussie sitcom Cath and Kim where they try to come up with an exotic name for a child and one of them suggests Chlamydia.

Isn't that the name of Rees-Smug's sister?

Ben6899

morstar said:

Ben6899 said:

Yesterday, I learnt that there's a beauty salon at the Archway end of the Junction Road, called... "Stasi".

I'm not letting those people anywhere near my fingernails.

Probably one of those scenarios where somebody just thought it sounded exotic.

I think it is the Aussie sitcom Cath and Kim where they try to come up with an exotic name for a child and one of them suggests Chlamydia.

And then they settle on "Chardonnay", but "the aitch is soilent".

mrb123

What GOP means (and it isn't Greatest Orange President)

dennisn

I've learned that people who do their own repairs never let it enter their minds that the problem they have is their own fault. Everything is either broken, factory reject, needs carbon paste, or needs to be replaced with ceramic bearings.

rjsterry

The red colour of Ruby grapefruits is the result of a genetic mutation caused by irradiating the plants.

Ben6899

This Civil Engineer has just learnt that most mortgage lenders won't entertain properties in Precast Reinforced Concrete (PRC) buildings.

Maybe @rjsterry can tell us if this is the case for all PRC buildings or just those built with insufficient rebar cover that were popular in the 1970s?

thistle_

Ben6899 said:

This Civil Engineer has just learnt that most mortgage lenders won't entertain properties in Precast Reinforced Concrete (PRC) buildings.

Maybe @rjsterry can tell us if this is the case for all PRC buildings or just those built with insufficient rebar cover that were popular in the 1970s?

I think it's a lack of understanding. Look up "non traditional house construction". Some are ok, some most definitely not.

There's plenty of decent, safe precast concrete houses around but a lot of mortgage companies seem to try and stay away from anything non traditional, I assume they've decided it's too risky from a resale point of view?

rjsterry

thistle_(mbnw) said:

Ben6899 said:

This Civil Engineer has just learnt that most mortgage lenders won't entertain properties in Precast Reinforced Concrete (PRC) buildings.

Maybe @rjsterry can tell us if this is the case for all PRC buildings or just those built with insufficient rebar cover that were popular in the 1970s?

I think it's a lack of understanding. Look up "non traditional house construction". Some are ok, some most definitely not.

There's plenty of decent, safe precast concrete houses around but a lot of mortgage companies seem to try and stay away from anything non traditional, I assume they've decided it's too risky from a resale point of view?

This. I can remember being warned off a PRC maisonette in Barnes when we were looking for our first flat. It's a bit of a nonsense: some houses built with PRC did have big problems - I think in the Barnes example it was corrosion of the steel connections between the PRC units due to poor detailing; very difficult to remedy - but rather than specifically avoid the problem buildings they just put a black mark against anything that isn't 'traditional construction'. The irony is that a lot of modern, very much non-traditional timber-framed housing is probably mortgaged as 'traditional construction' purely because it has some (non-structural) brick cladding on the outside and the owners/valuers don't know any better.

Ben6899

It's a 2005 apartment that friends of ours are trying to buy. The lender did indeed cite "non-traditional" construction and "PRC" when refusing to offer them a mortgage.

I suspected - as you both point out - that's a slightly reactionary stance and I'd bet that a 2005 building has been constructed with all the lessons borne in mind.

Still, no dice.

rjsterry

Ben6899 said:

It's a 2005 apartment that friends of ours are trying to buy. The lender did indeed cite "non-traditional" construction and "PRC" when refusing to offer them a mortgage.

I suspected - as you both point out - that's a slightly reactionary stance and I'd bet that a 2005 building has been constructed with all the lessons borne in mind.

Still, no dice.

I think there are specialist lenders for this kind of property.

https://www.gocompare.com/mortgages/unusual-construction/

https://www.onlinemortgageadvisor.co.uk/property-types/concrete-construction/

Pross

My old colleague had a mortgage offer refused when buying a 400 year old farmhouse as the walls were bowed. It had stood all that time and the walls were about a metre thick and they were worried it would suddenly collapse during the 25 years they would have some liability.

Ben6899

rjsterry said:

Ben6899 said:

It's a 2005 apartment that friends of ours are trying to buy. The lender did indeed cite "non-traditional" construction and "PRC" when refusing to offer them a mortgage.

I suspected - as you both point out - that's a slightly reactionary stance and I'd bet that a 2005 building has been constructed with all the lessons borne in mind.

Still, no dice.

I think there are specialist lenders for this kind of property.

https://www.gocompare.com/mortgages/unusual-construction/

https://www.onlinemortgageadvisor.co.uk/property-types/concrete-construction/

Brilliant, thanks!