36 minutes ago, GMX said:

 

From that we can assume Scottish birds love Hyundais but loathe Peugeots

 

It would seem so...

Contending with seagulls is an issue here! Especially when some crazy bat up the road feeds them out her house window

4 hours ago, Ianb said:

Contending with seagulls is an issue here! Especially when some crazy bat up the road feeds them out her house window

Talk of crazy bats reminds me.

My missus used to put bacon rind out for a seagull. Then it used to terrorise our cat.

They would glare at each other through the kitchen window, but the cat showed absolutely no inclination at all to go outside while that bird was there. Come to that, I was a bit skeptical about it myself.

 

Thing is, I'm tempted to say something, but you never know what peoples situations are. My wife's uncle was in a hospice in his last few weeks and feeding birds and watching them brought him joy, seagulls aren't quite as pleasant as little dickey birds but it could be all she has... Idk, she could also just be nuts...but I don't like being THAT guy....

1 hour ago, Ianb said:

Thing is, I'm tempted to say something, but you never know what peoples situations are. My wife's uncle was in a hospice in his last few weeks and feeding birds and watching them brought him joy, seagulls are quite as pleasant as little dickey birds but it could be all she has... Idk, she could also just be nuts...but I don't like being THAT guy....

You are absolutely right Ian, it's always best to keep an open mind.

I don't like the thick acrid black smoke that's blowing across the neighbourhood, from the tar coated OSB, that next door's builder continues to burn (along with other trade waste), despite having been cautioned by  Enviromental Health Officer, on Tuesday.

On 16/06/2016 at 2:24 AM, Tdci-Peter said:

Talk of crazy bats reminds me.

My missus used to put bacon rind out for a seagull. Then it used to terrorise our cat.

They would glare at each other through the kitchen window, but the cat showed absolutely no inclination at all to go outside while that bird was there. Come to that, I was a bit skeptical about it myself.

 

That reminds me of an incident one of my previous cats had with a magpie, although it was Peggoty (the cat) that was terrorising the magpie, in this case.

The magpie had acquired a large slice of pizza and was having some difficulty flying with it, it was just too big.  It kept coming down and pausing on the lawn, and then the drive.

It was at this point, Peggoty decided she wanted the pizza, and kept grabbing at it, and slapping the magpie with her paws. The magpie tried to defend it's lunch with squawk, and then trying to peck Peggoty.. 

This was counterproductive, as Peggoty pounced on the pizza and sat on it, whilst pummeling the magpie around it's legs and head from a reclined position with all four paws.  The magpie backed off, but then tried running back and forth, grabbing a beak full of pizza, from around Peggoty, and returning to a safe zone out of reach of clawed paws, to eat it.  The pizza stand off continued for around half an hour, until the magpie concluded it wasn't worth it, and flew off.

Peggoty had absolutely no interest in the pizza, once the magpie had gone, she too wandered off, abandoning the pecked and squashed slice on the drive.

.

I don't like torrential rain starting just as I'm getting ready to wash the car prior to another show this weekend.

However I do like the thunder and lightening that's come with this rain...something calming about a nice storm.

16 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

I don't like torrential rain starting just as I'm getting ready to wash the car prior to another show this weekend.

However I do like the thunder and lightening that's come with this rain...something calming about a nice storm.

I've been going to wash the Mk2 Focus, for several days now, each time being halted by some rain in varying intensities

We had some great lightning here yesterday, just to north, probably over Wimborne.

A storm seems to cleanse the air, it certainly washes the pollen away for all the hayfever sufferers

11 minutes ago, GMX said:

Peggoty pounced on the pizza and sat on it, whilst pummeling the magpie around it's legs and head from a reclined position with all four paws

What a mean, selfish cat! But then that is their way, they would not be cats otherwise. The magpie should count itself lucky really. Could have gone badly for it.

Our cat once had a stand-off with a robin, but the robin won this one.

The cat was in the garden minding its own business (that is terrorising any local wildlife it could find), the robin landed on the gate & made alarm calls, an appalling racket. The cat just could not stand this disturbance, went to the gate and stared at the robin. This just made the bird worse, even noisier. You almost see the cat thinking: "No good jumping up, wretched bird will just hop to a bush and carry on, wish it would come down here where I can deal with it" The bird was not so stupid!

In the end the cat had to stalk off, summoning what little dignity he had left to cover his disgrace!

And talking of disgrace, burning tar & OSB is a bit naughty. A bit of garden rubbish from time to time I think should be ok, but that sounds pretty bad.

 

Burning any trade waste is apparently illegal, except for landscapers who hold a D7 exemption license from the EA, for garden waste and noxious weeds.

 

 

 

33 minutes ago, Tdci-Peter said:

bit naughty

Understatement, I should have said Very or Criminally naughty.

12 minutes ago, Tdci-Peter said:

Understatement, I should have said Very or Criminally naughty.

I didn't know until this week it was illegal, full stop. 

I'd thought wrongly, that is was a neighbourhood nuisance, only becoming illegal if the smoke drifts on to the highway. 

 

A seagul has sh...pooed all over my car!! Popped out to grab some tools out the boot and it was nice and clean. 10 minutes later, several big wet splodges of seagul crap...and I don't have time to wash it today!!

Part of my road is currently a pond being fed by the river from the hill behind

Not the best photo of the river coming down the hill, (from the lounge window).  Next door's Range Rover blocks most of little rapids streaming by

 

 

I don't like driving with L-plates... 

Surprisingly, the general consensus is that drivers with them fitted are treated more fairly and even given way to more than other drivers...  Well, that certainly isn't the case in my area!  It sounds paranoid, but with the L-plates other drivers just treat you like crap, or me anyway.  Whether it be the "I'm better than you!" looks, or overtaking (dangerously) to get past me when I'm already going over the speed limit, just so they can get past "the learner". 

It just struck me tonight when I parked at the Tesco car park (completely central in a bay, not obstructing or touching other cars) and the owner of the car in front (which my bumper was a good 5-6" away from, because he was too far forward and I needed to get closer so my back end wasn't sticking out) felt the need not only to glance at his bumper to ensure I hadn't hit him - which I could understand as I do that too if suspicious - but then to spend 3 minutes examining it in close detail, and then getting his girlfriend/wife to have a look also!!  I really did have to resist the urge to go out and say "I didn't hit you!", because that would just make me look guilty.

You know, if I didn't have L-plates on I can almost guarantee he would have done the initial glance, saw I wasn't touching his car and then drove off - but as soon as he saw the L-plate on my car he decided he better check that the (obviously) incompetent learner driver hadn't damaged his vehicle, which he had parked badly!!

Roll on August 3rd, when I can hopefully rip the damn things off and be treated like a NORMAL DRIVER. 

*RANT OVER*

26 minutes ago, jmurray01 said:

I don't like driving with L-plates

Yes, I think to some drivers, especially BMW drivers (except Ghana in his earlier BMW phase!), they are an obstacle to be driven round, over, or through. (A bit like traffic cones & roundabouts).

(Tut, I really should not be so prejudiced against BMW drivers, I am sure Mercedes ones are just as bad!)

Patience is a virtue, one that many drivers find far too valuable to bring into the car with them.

30 minutes ago, jmurray01 said:

Roll on August 3rd, when I can hopefully rip the damn things off and be treated like a NORMAL DRIVER. 

Lol, sounds like you're already experiencing that...  People cutting you up, getting too close etc sounds like a normal day for any driver.  No courtesy or respect from most people stuck in their own bubble...  Feel like I've got an invisibility cloak on a lot of the time.

I do notice a difference between driving the lairy Fiesta ST and the subtle Focus though, very rarely get cut up in the ST, lets face it you can't really miss it though!  

I thought I'd order all the parts, I haven't got and need to give the Mk2 Focus it's pre-MOT service only to find Ford have fitted two different sizes of front brake discs to the Mk2 focus Estate 1.8 TDCi.  I could have the 300mm (front) and 280mm (rears) or I might have 278mm (front) and 280mm (rear), it seems to down to the whim of the assembly plant.

However, due to massive monsoon outside, unless I really want to get really wet, whilst I check: I can't order a set until which I've got, which means I won't get them until at least Tuesday.

The last owner had both an advisory for the worn very grooved discs and a "only just met braking efficiency"

27 minutes ago, GMX said:

I thought I'd order all the parts, I haven't got and need to give the Mk2 Focus it's pre-MOT service only to find Ford have fitted two different sizes of front brake discs to the Mk2 focus Estate 1.8 TDCi.  I could have the 300mm (front) and 280mm (rears) or I might have 278mm (front) and 280mm (rear), it seems to down to the whim of the assembly plant.

However, due to massive monsoon outside, unless I really want to get really wet, whilst I check: I can't order a set until which I've got, which means I won't get them until at least Tuesday.

The last owner had both an advisory for the worn very grooved discs and a "only just met braking efficiency"

Ah yes, that old thing...  On our old Fords though, brake advisories seemed to come and go year by year, with no rhyme or reason.

3 hours ago, GMX said:

1.8 TDCi.  I could have the 300mm (front) and 280mm (rears)

Just to add confusion to chaos, Haynes (, as some say, though I find it generally useful), says 278mm front, against which I have written, firmly: "No - 300mm stil". I can't read the last word, so don't ask me what it means, no idea!

As you can see, I have almost the same car. (No, that's not true, mine is much scruffier & dirtier than yours, I bet!);

Might still be worth checking though.

On a (slightly) more sober note (that wine with our supper was quite pleasant ), I have taken to scraping the rust off my disks annually. I only do 7k odd miles per year, with car idle for days on end. They do rust badly. Got through the last 3 MoTs like that.

PS:

Ghana, I admired(?) your floods, we have had some like that, lapping up round the front wheels of the car, but not lately, fortunately. First Fire then Flood, had any earthquakes or plagues of locusts yet?  If not, better be prepared!

 

5 hours ago, jmurray01 said:

but then to spend 3 minutes examining it in close detail, and then getting his girlfriend/wife to have a look also!!

I pressed the like button for this, but that is not really right. I don't much like it at all! (Them, that is).

But I do like you telling the world about it.

First Fire then Flood, had any earthquakes or plagues of locusts yet?  If not, better be prepared!

 

Don't forget the boils as well [emoji37]

Sent from my SM-G930F

3 hours ago, Tdci-Peter said:

Ghana, I admired(?) your floods, we have had some like that, lapping up round the front wheels of the car, but not lately, fortunately. First Fire then Flood, had any earthquakes or plagues of locusts yet?  If not, better be prepared!

Earthquakes, I believe Brandy and the cats may experience nightly earthquakes, as I try to get under my duvet, that they have all decided to sleep on top of

Plague-wise, If this season is like the last few,  naturalised Thai sawfly larvae will strip my Berberis davidii next month of every available leaf. Loopers (Tomato moth larvae) will attempt to defoliate all the hanging basketed tomatoes from August onwards, and should it rain at the wrong time of day: late blight might visit the potatoes in September

1 hour ago, Stoney871 said:

Don't forget the boils as well

Sent from my SM-G930F

I do have a persistant corn on my smallest right toe, which is not responding to Scholl's express corn pen treatment, I could offer that as a sort of boil (designate)

When you purchase one item from an online shop and the transaction is complete, Paid and you have been emailed a reciept.

annoys me when they then proceed to call you and discuss the purchase 😦 I'd understand if it was a large mixed order but it's one non mistaken item from there shop.

I'm like 😣 just bring it to your local post office and chill bro, if I wanted to order by phone is have called you. 

5 hours ago, Lenny said:

When you purchase one item from an online shop and the transaction is complete, Paid and you have been emailed a reciept.

annoys me when they then proceed to call you and discuss the purchase 😦 I'd understand if it was a large mixed order but it's one non mistaken item from there shop.

I'm like 😣 just bring it to your local post office and chill bro, if I wanted to order by phone is have called you. 

Was that the Transit Parts Centre? 

I received a phone call to discuss my order of a solitary sump plug, moments after the Paypal receipt had been emailed!