WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

A secret Santa drop! I found a set of HSS Metric drills on the doorstep. Turned out that my grand nephew Muthomi had called to wish me Happy Xmas but I was in bed.....very smart, I haven't had a set of new drills for over twenty years.

[Tizer]

Breaking news - or sinking news!...
`Lakeside Miller & Carter floating restaurant starts to sink' LINK

[Pluggy]

I haven't had a set of new drills for over twenty years.

I bet you keep your old ones sharp though.

[Stanley]

Peter, it sounds to me like ship maintenance carried out by restaurateurs! My guess is that it's a scrapper as the hull has been allowed to rot quietly over the years. That's the trouble with boats......
Pluggy, dead right, I have some of the shortest drills in Barlick! Same with me milling cutters....
What impressed me was that Susan and Mick set off for Essex by rail. This involve a train to Preston, one to London then Underground across London and a train to Bishop's Stortford. They managed it, rather them than me! They said the secret was plenty of sandwiches and hot drinks in flasks.....

[Big Kev]

All those things that would only happen 'when hell freezes over', should be happening. The town of Hell, in Michigan, is frozen.
https://euroweeklynews.com/2022/12/24/2 ... as-storms/

[Tizer]

An everyday occurrence in Cornwall...
`Santa-filled armoured truck gets stuck in Cornwall lane' Short BBC video & text
An armoured personnel carrier filled with Santas had to be freed by police after getting stuck in a Cornish lane. The Santas, who were believed to be on a pub crawl, got wedged in a hedge at Marsh Lane near Hayle in Cornwall. Devon and Cornwall Police were called at about 19:40 GMT on Thursday after reports that a vehicle had been damaged. No-one was arrested. Fisherman Ian Jepson, who shot video of the Santa jam, said the lane was blocked for about two hours. He said the Santas were on an annual pub crawl. "They shot past me singing and we later found them stuck where the lane narrows," he added. "They were quite tightly jammed but it says no parking. "It was quite funny as they tried to free themselves."

[Stanley]

It takes a special sort of mind set to believe that dressing as Santa and going on a pub crawl in an armoured car is a good idea.
I have to report I am not that kind of person....

[Big Kev]

Evri parcel delivery. At 20:33 last night I got a notification that the two parcels I've been waiting for had been delivered. A complete fabrication, there's no confirmation photo or map showing where it was delivered to and, of course, as it's now Christmas no one to investigate what's going on. Not impressed.

[Stanley]

Same people who reported that they had destroyed my two Silentnight duvets on the day they were delivering them. They have now told me they have the replacements and will let me know when they are 'out for delivery'. I am not holding my breath.....

[plaques]

A sucker for gadgets I bought one of those power measuring plug in units (ebay £11 from China) very good quality I may add. The first thing this morning was to check the power consumption on our toaster. 2Kw for 4 minutes for the four slices. Worked out at 6p per slice, Is it going to make any difference to my life? not one bit but now I can bore the pants of the cocktail party crowd like I'm doing now.

[Tizer]

One of my young cousins did me a favour and ordered a case for my new Lenovo tablet a couple of days ago. I chose it on Amazon and she did the order on her prime account. Didn't expect it until after Xmas but it arrived yesterday afternoon. We were visiting the cousin that afternoon and as we were about to leave she said `You'll find your new case in your porch'. The magic of modern technology and young cousins! I'd tried buying a case at shops in town but all they could offer was big, one-size fits all, cases which would have been too bulky for me - and costing from £20 to £30. Instead I looked on Amazon, found a case of the exact size and type and got it for £12.99. It's perfect. The seller was an agent for a Chinese business but their web Amazon page was packed with information giving exact product model numbers etc and telling me exactly which item to buy. Much impressed!
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`In pictures: Scotland's amazing Christmas trees' BBC pics

[PanBiker]

Repeat prescription that I ordered on my phone. Had a projected delivery date of the 28th but was delivered on Christmas Eve. Interestingly it was postmarked by Royal Mail but delivered by an independent lady carrier. The pharmacy I use did say that they prioritise medication deliveries.

[Stanley]

The fact that everything I heard on R4 seemed to be a repeat of something earlier. A sign of the times I suppose. They have cut so much staff that it must be difficult to fill the air-time. All part of UK PLC sinking slowly beneath the waves.....
Does anyone remember Freddie Grisewood and the story he used to tell every Xmas, 'The Celestial Gardener'?

[Tizer]

We notice the same - lots of Radio 4 repeats, but they're often not programmes we would listen to. In contrast we use BBC Sounds to find old episodes of e.g. Word of Mouth and Thinking Allowed.

[PanBiker]

Sally and Jack have set off down to Stratford to collect our Ruby. She would have come up on the train but it is likely to be a tad busy today. We get the other two Silsden grandchildren tomorrow.

[Big Kev]

20221227_151014.jpg

This caught my attention and made me smile

[Tizer]

Great! Although I wonder if they have to sell ones in dark chocolate too?

[Tripps]

Don't be offensive - surely you mean "chocolate of colour" ?

[Stanley]

I don't think Kahara and Lily would mind what colour they are!
But David is right, you have to be so careful what you say these days.

[Tizer]

Like Stanley, we have `relatives of colour'!
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This BBC report reminds me of my post back in November where I related a conversation with our plumber: The condensate from a gas boiler contains nitric acid from the flue fumes and this is eating through the pipe joints and dripping onto surfaces or other pipes below. He's heard of gas pipes being corroded badly by the acid and potentially causing a gas leak. OG post
`Suspected gas explosion in Evesham 'shook the house'' LINK

[Tripps]

David is right, you have to be so careful what you say these days.

Especially in Hospital. On Monday an African nurse tried to give me medication intended for another chap also called David. I made light of it and without thinking said "black mark to you". Whoops - I think I got away with it. She was too busy to notice.

[PanBiker]

Sorry to hear of your recent woes David. One question regarding the medication, weren't you bar coded? I know when I was in my wristband which was bar coded was cross checked with the information on the medical trolley computer. A further check was full name and date of birth. You then got the pills, jabs or whatever.

[Stanley]

Peter, you are right about the condensate water being corrosive. In my boiler the condensate piping is plastic for that reason. If yours is copper, have a word with your plumber, there is an easy cure for the pipework......
What grabbed me today was that it seemed like a good day for an annual backup to two independent external drives so I did it.
Probably time I was thinking about backing them up onto a sold state drive......

[Tizer]

Our condensate piping is plastic too. The problem plumbers have been finding is that in the long term the jointing compound gets corroded by the nitric acid and now they're having to use something special to prevent that.

[Stanley]

I wonder what 'long term' means?
Must remember that our water is to be turned off between 10:00 and 13:00 today.....