Reply to: test please delete

[NickFitz]

Home again!

It's rather foggy out and was so for much of the journey back, but not so bad as to cause any delay

I had to wait to leave until my brother had come back from his morning walk, as he'd forgotten to bring a coat and had borrowed mine (with permission). He lives in the Peak District and doesn't seem to feel he's started the day properly unless he's set off for a five mile hike at eight in the morning

I stopped off at Big Sainsbury's Down There for a few bits; it was pretty quiet. But when I saw the sign for Pies and Quiches, I suddenly remembered that he'd given me a large pork pie from his local delicatessen and coffee shop, said pies being very good, and it was still in my sister's fridge! So I set off back there. Just as I did, my sister phoned to tell me about the pie and I explained that I was coming back for it. Once I got there, I found out that my brother was going to suggest that I head out to Leicester Forest East services at the time he expected to get to that stretch of the M1 on his journey north, and he would stop off to hand the pie over!

Anyway, it only added about ten minutes to my journey to head back for it, so we were saved the trouble of acting like people making a cocaine delivery but with savoury baked goods

In Sainsbury's car park, a couple of rows away there was a Corolla identical to mine - same colour, variant, year of registration! Always nice to see somebody else keeping the faith rather than getting distracted by those fancy new cars

Among my presents were a couple of my father's unpublished novels, now available via Amazon print-on-demand

I was aware of The Hunting of the Queen, said queen being the ocean liner Queen Mary, the story being set in the North Atlantic during the war when she was being used to ferry troops. This was the third book he wrote but Hodder & Stoughton passed on it, so I've never read it as he wouldn't let us read anything until it was in print. I didn't know about City of the Eagle though; I believe he wrote this some time in the 1980s. Sounds like a cracking plot that would make an excellent movie. Apparently he revised both of them and sought a publisher in the late 1980s once he'd retired, but couldn't get any takers. So that's two books that are going straight to the top of the notional "to-read" pile, ahead of the other volumes received

Just realised I forgot to do Wordle et al. yesterday

[DoctorStrangelove]

Morning Afternoon.

Thursday.

Dry.

Sunny.

Blue sky from horizon to horizon.

Chilly in here at 13.2 deg, 12.5 deg in the kitchen, 11.5 in the leanto.

1030.3 mBar, 30.424 in Hg, 772.788 Torr, 14.94 psi, (up from 1029 last night), 65% RH (Lidl electric).

[sadkingbilly]

Morning denizens

Not all retirees are early risers

That's for certain!

Morning people
BBC say it's sunny.
Lying bastids.
vis <> 30 meters.
and closing.
sea haar's a great thing (unless you have to sally forth, of course).

[xoggoth]

Yeh, I've got a family do in London on Saturday. Groan! Gotta pay that darn ULEZ charge thing.

[ladymuck]

Morning all

Dull, overcast, damp. Currently 7 degrees with a high of 8 expected. Rain in the air but not necessarily forecast. Barometer up to 1035 mBar.

Off to Send to meet Mum's siblings and wider family for lunch, via the cemetery to pay our respects to my grandparents. After lunch I'll be heading home and my brother will bring Mum back home.

[NickFitz]

Morning denizens

”Mostly cloudy” here, it is said, and apparently it’s the same at home. Here is 7°C, there is 6°, but both have an expected high of 9°. The barometers here are way up on yesterday there at 1030/1038

Not sure what time I’ll be able to start for home. Not all retirees are early risers

[WTFH]

Morning all

[NickFitz]

I’ve decided I’ve had enough Christmas for one day, so I’ve retreated to bed. It’s been a nice time though

I’m planning to make a reasonably early start homewards tomorrow morning, and it’ll be good to get back home and not have to think about being festive for another year

Goodnight all

[xoggoth]

Back from son's and his gf's place. He's working later! NIce Xmouse pud.

[ladymuck]

Afternoon all, Christmas greetings from West Sussex

It's been a dull and damp day today. Currently 9 degrees and the high was 10. Barometer at 1033 mBar

Lazy day, just me and Mum today. Although my brother did kindly pop round with a spare phone charger as I'd left mine at home. Another visitor was an old friend of mine who stopped by to say hello.

Mum is enjoying being fed three meals a day. I don't usually eat three proper meals a day so it's a bit of a struggle to keep up!

[NickFitz]

Shout out to the occupants of the three cars that had come too close together and formed an unholy trinity just by Rothwell Lodge Farm on the A14 westbound

This incident, which looked as if it had damaged mostly metal and composite materials rather than people, delayed me by about twenty-five minutes, thereby reducing the number of peanuts I was able to get through before being called to the table for a very nice dinner

[xoggoth]

Bum! Supposed to be at son's for xmas dinner but he had a power cut when meal was half cooked. Not back until after 18.30. Checked on power networks so not an invented excuse to avoid ghastly old father.

Update
About 1 min after above posterior got message from him to say power back. Going round in 30 mins.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Morning Afternoon.

Wednesday.

"Dry", yeah, right: wet wet wet, the drizzly wet that's wetter than a monsoon.

Grey.

Dark.

Sunless.

Dreary.

Chilly in here at 13.2 deg, 12.5 deg in the kitchen, 12 deg in the leanto.

1029 mBar, 30.386 in Hg, 771.8 Torr, 14.924 psi, (up from 1026 last night), 68% RH (Lidl electric).

Meanwhile on the 13th of December 2019 NF was on a remarkably convoluted journey to that Manchester, from the sounds of it for a CUK pissup of some kind, whereas I was watching yet more BTVS & Angel, though by this stage both were well past their best.

Walk walked in the grey gloomy drizzly misty fog: rather shorter than last year's trek: a mere 2 hours or so up to that Tonna, back down the tow path to that Neath, avoiding swans where necessary, then back home via a twisty path through town and no one mention the M X thing until half a mile from home when some miserable fecker came out with it. Bah Fecking Humbug I didn't say, being somewhat irritated.

Them next door were out for a while visiting somewhere or other but they're back now. Hope they stay there & leave me alone.

Season's TV: "Walking with the Ancients" on PBS.

Tea: Tesco battered haddock etc. Nice enough.

Wallace & Gromit on BBC1: that just about justifies the licence fee for this year.

"Ghost Ships" on Blaze: the Halifax Nova Scotia 2.9kt explosion in WWI.

Maigret's War of Nerves with Bruno Cremer on Talking Pictures TV.

[NickFitz]

The perennial Christmas conundrum: do I take my laptop, or will the iPad do? I'll only be gone for twenty-four hours, most of which will involve driving, eating, drinking, or sleeping, so I'm not even going to bother taking a charger

Anyway, best be off. Have a good one everybody!

[NickFitz]

Morning denizens, and Happy Christmas!

It's a cloudy day but with a hint of a gap here and there that might lead to it brightening up later, and a bit breezy though not drastically so. Currently 9°C (feeling like 6°) with an expected high of 11°; the barometers are up yet more at 1020/1028mB