Compo

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Posts posted by Compo

  1. On 2/12/2021 at 10:42 AM, philmayfield said:

    There was a Hearty Good Fellow on the corner of Mount St. and Maid Marion Way. I think it’s an Indian Restaurant now.

    Thanks Phil, That's the one I was thinking of. I thought I had posted the question but this morning I couldn't see it so I reposted - hope it doesn't get me a 'telling off'!

  2. Successful night spent in tent followed by a bike ride at 0615hrs this morning. Arm stopped bleeding; hip and knee now swelling nicely - black ice on downhill No permanent damage to bike so had breakfast (Beans on toast), then hopped into car and went for a walk in Sibster wood before doing a bit of tree pruning in the sleet and wind. Relaxed with a railway magazine in polytunnel, well wrapped up; now about to enjoy a Baileys by the open fire and watch Steve McQueen's "The ̷S̷l̷o̷b̷ Blob" (Recorded earlier) ...might have a slice of toast and home-made jam, done in front of the fire like we did in "Olden days". Happy New Year to fellow nutcases

    • Like 7
  3. PP: I have only seen a true Scottish wildcat once. It was drinking at a mountain stream early one morning. The nearest house was several miles away - which is about as close to us as they will go.

    Phil: ours are a feral colony.

    Jill: The true wildcat is indeed endangered. It hasn't stopped the wind farm boys from applying to put up a huge wind farm in a territory know to contain wildcats though. A Public Enquiry turned down the application because of the wildcats but the developers have appealed to the Scottish government and look likely to get consent to destroy the wildcat habitat. Don't be fooled by SNP propaganda about how nice they are.

    • Like 3
  4. I one began one of those double sided jigsaws. I put a few dozen pieces together and then lost interest. I left it on a table and about a year later went back to it. The colours had faded, making it even more difficult to finish. I still have it to this day. I stuck the finished puzzle together with Blue Peter style "Sticky-back plastic" and keep it on my bedside table.

  5. How's this for a great "result": The day before Xmas the manager of the local Cat Protection came around and told us that a wealthy man's cat had died and that he had made a huge donation to the Cat Protection, to do with as they see fit. She told us that they had decided to buy food with it and distribute it between local people who are known to be feeding feral cats. She opened her van and unloaded about £200 worth of cat food and wished us a merry Xmas! 

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  6. Interesting roadkill find yesterday: cycling along a country lane I saw something in the ditch under a hedgerow. It was some kind of container with some dark fluid inside and had obviously been there some time because weeds had grown around it. Closer inspection revealed it to be 25l of Caustic Soda....exactly what I needed! I am running low on Sodium Hydroxide (Caustic Soda), which I use for cleaning things of stubborn organic matter as well as paint stripping. Result!!

  7. Had a surprise yesterday. My car insurance is up for renewal and I was expecting to have to go through the ritual of phoning around and arguing for a better price. Last year I changed to NFU Mutual car insurance and when I opened my renewal notice from them yesterday I found that my premium, owing to their "Mutual Bonus" scheme and for no loss of cover, had gone DOWN in price by 11.5%! The scheme offers a renewal bonus on a scale of up to 16.5% for each year of renewal. Result!

    • Like 2
  8. Having decided that roots from nearby trees were preventing the greenhouse soil from working well, I decided to build a 10' long x 2' 8" staging to act as a bench to use for potted plants. I spent some time building the base using 4x2 for the legs and 3x2 for the framework, only to be told by the good lady that I was "Going over the top" and that "Something basic would suffice." By then I had already finished the base and had installed it in the greenhouse. As I was beginning to screw down the slats for the top work surface, what should hit my ears but "It would be nice if one could remove the top so that it would make it easy to put things inside instead of having to bend down and push things under." Hmmm....rethink time. Some hours later, I had made a framework and fixed the slats (8 x 70mm x 20mm) onto it and added 3 x 4" hinges so that it could be fitted and raised like the lid of an ottoman. "What are you doing?" enquired a female voice. "I'm hinging the whole top so that you can raise it when you want to drop things inside." I replied. "Could you not have thought of something simpler? It seems over the top to me." Said the voice. I promptly went out for a ride on my bike........

    • Like 2
  9. On 9/24/2020 at 9:28 PM, Beekay said:

    I'm gonna buy an electric car just as soon as I  can find a 230mile extension lead.:wacko:

     

    Just been reading a local newspaper article that says SSE power are warning Scotland that by 2030 so many tourists will be arriving in electric cars that the power supply will not be able to cope and power curs to homes will be almost inevitable. You couldn't make it up, could you!

    • Like 1
  10. 6 hours ago, Brew said:

    If someone can spray paint a stencil of a girl on someones wall and get away with it, a yob must be equaly entitled to make his mark and claim it's a social comment on the human condition.

     

    Equally entitled to make his mark as a social comment but not to deface the work of another. That's the difference between art and vandalism. The yob/yobess who defaced the picture is not entitled to do this - his/her mark should be alongside if it is to be a comment and not to be considered wanton destruction.

    • Like 3
    • Upvote 1
  11. Regardless of the monetary price there is the environmental and human price to pay for renewables. this is a price that no developer talks about. Rare Earth minerals are not called that for nowt. They are scarce and essential for renewable power generation. This means that they are of a premium price and so valuable that in the few places where they are found, the populations and land have been devastated in order to extract the minerals. There are two main centres for strip mining rare earth minerals;  The Congo and China. Mining in the Congo has led to a civil war being fought over the lands and many people being either ousted from their tribal land or simply annihilated. Similarly, in China thousands of farmers have been removed and the land torn apart, mile after mile, for the minerals. The environmental damage is massive but who cares? Renewables are "Clean, green energy"...Grrr!

    • Like 2
  12. Here's a bit of advice if you are planning to install solar panels. Don't put them on the roof.  If they go wrong (And they will) it costs an arm and a leg to get them fixed. Install them at ground level so you have access to them without paying for specialist roof workers.  Mine failed last winter and cost me £1200 to have a couple of connectors renewed and an insulation check. Total work time - around half an hour.  They failed again this week. I was forced to get out onto the roof to disconnect a short circuiting panel - would have cost me another £1200 to get the repairers out but all it needed was to unplug two connectors and plug them back in a different order. Time take -- 15 minutes. I have lost the use of the disconnected panel permanently but they no longer make that type. Given that it is in the middle of an array it is not practical to replace it with another of different type and dimensions.