What’s on your mind?

[Gutwrench]

When is this all going to be over? I am a very social lad, can barely sit inside the house plus i have claustrophobia. So im freaking out and wondering if this is it for me :O

Welcome! These certainly are trying times. Fortunately we have our online experience to help us. This is a good thread to sit back to chat and get to know our personalities. We‘re kinda an aggregate of several shows...like Cheers meets M*A*S*H meets WKRP meets Jerry Springer and Monty Python.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Welcome! These certainly are trying times. Fortunately we have our online experience to help us. This is a good thread to sit back to chat and get to know our personalities. We‘re kinda an aggregate of several shows...like Cheers meets M*A*S*H meets WKRP meets Jerry Springer.

Lovely post...

.....We‘re kinda an aggregate of several shows...like Cheers meets M*A*S*H meets WKRP meets Jerry Springer.

Hm.

A "match the appropriate, or relevant, show to the particular poster" sort of challenge.........

 

[Gutwrench]

Lovely post...

Awww, I intended to include Monty Python but started drifting back to sleep.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Awww, I intended to include Monty Python but started drifting back to sleep.

Yes, Monty Python.......perfect.

The first time I saw Life of Brian, was when it had just been released, and I was still at school.

My brother, who was also still at school, (i.e. at school, This Side Of The Pond, means school, not university, in this instance, our equivalent of High School), got wind of the fact that a grubby and grotty pub in the old (at that time, run-down) medieval heart of the city - with a very artistic clientele - it was next door to a theatre - planned to show the movie, illegally, (as the censorship authorities were debating whether or not to censor the movie, or allow it to be released, at the time).

He raced home on his bicycle, and informed me, whereupon we both dashed back in to the city, both of us pedaling madly on our bicycles, and found ourselves a nice table in the pub, two young teenagers, where we proceeded to watch the illegally shown movie (which we both agreed was absolutely brilliant, among the best things we had ever seen, a view I still hold, decades later), clutching and sipping our respective glasses of orange juice.

With hindsight, I think it hilarious that it never even crossed our teenaged minds to think to (or try to) order a beer, even a half one.

We were polite middle-class kids, socially law-abiding, if culturally non-conformist. Given that we shouldn't have been in the pub in the first place (for, of course, we were both underage), and given that the pub was showing the movie illegally, I suspect that had we each tried to order a half beer, we probably would have been served. However, we watched our movie - unforgettably - sipping our respective glasses of orange juice.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Yes, Monty Python.......perfect.

The first time I saw Life of Brian, was when it had just been released, and I was still at school.

My brother, who was also still at school, (i.e. at school, This Side Of The Pond, means school, not university, in this instance, our equivalent of High School), got wind of the fact that a grubby and grotty pub - with a very artistic clientele - it was next door to a theatre - planned to show the movie, illegally, (as the censorship authorities were debating whether or not to censor the movie, or allow it to be released, at the time).

He raced home on his bicycle, and informed me, whereupon we both dashed back in to the city, both of us on our bicycles, and found ourselves a nice table in the pub, two young teenagers, where we proceeded to watch the illegally shown movie (which we both agreed was absolutely brilliant, among the best things we had ever seen, a view I still hold, decades later), clutching and sipping our respective glasses of orange juice.

With hindsight, I think it hilarious that it never even crossed our teenaged minds to think to (or try to) order a beer, even a half one.

We were polite middle-class kids, socially law-abiding, if (radically) culturally non-conformist. Given that we shouldn't have been in the pub in the first place (we were both underage), and given that the pub was showing the movie illegally, I suspect that had we each tried to order a half beer, we probably would have been served. However, we watched our movie - unforgettably - sipping our respective glasses of orange juice.

I was 14 or 15 when I first started drinking in pubs. I recall taking a young lady with me once (by young same age as I was) to my regular pub. I walked to the bar and asked her what she wanted to drink. In front of the bar staff she said what am I allowed? I could have died! Didn’t fit with me pretending to be of age!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I was 14 or 15 when I first started drinking in pubs. I recall taking a young lady with me once (by young same age as I was) to my regular pub. I walked to the bar and asked her what she wanted to drink. In front of the bar staff she said what am I allowed? I could have died! Didn’t fit with me pretending to be of age!

That is hilarious.

We were allowed (actually encouraged) to have a glass of wine with my parents at dinner, - my mother thought that if we were introduced to alcohol openly, over dinner with family, the way it happens in mainland Europe, we wouldn't be attracted by the thrill of breaking a taboo and would learn to see alcohol as something normal, to be enjoyed in moderation.

Thus, we did drink wine at home, with dinner, for a number of years before we could legally enter pubs, or rather, legally order alcohol in pubs, but - and this is funny - it never occurred to Other Brother and I to try to do so before we went to university, where it was a perfectly normal part of student life.

Decent Brother was different; for one thing, he liked that local scene (a lot) as a teenager, whereas myself and Other Brother were very studious at school; for another, unlike Other Brother (who developed late, physically, and looked younger than his years, even at university and later), Decent Brother matured early, and could easily have passed for 18 when he was around 15, which meant that heading into pubs was an illicit thrill easily indulged and entertained, as he was always served without any problems.

 

[Apple fanboy]

We were allowed (actually encouraged) to have a glass of wine with my parents at dinner, - my mother thought that if we were introduced to alcohol openly, over dinner with family, the way it happens in mainland Europe, we wouldn't be attracted by the thrill of breaking a taboo and would see alcohol as something normal, to be enjoyed in moderation.

Thus, we did drink wine at home, with dinner, for a number of years before we could legally enter pubs, or rather, legally order alcohol in pubs, but - and this is funny - it never occurred to Other Brother and I to try to do so before we went to university, where it was a perfectly normal part of student life.

Decent Brother was different; for one thing, he liked that local scene (a lot) as a teenager, whereas myself and Other Brother were very studious at school; for another, unlike Other Brother (who developed late, physically, and looked younger than his years, even at university and later), Decent Brother matured early, and could easily have passed for 18 when he was around 15, which meant that heading into pubs was an illicit thrill easily indulged and entertained, as he was always served without any problems.

I used to drink at home as well. Sometimes with my parents consent. Sometimes without. Keeping crates of larger in the shed is not a good idea when you have a teenager son!
Funny thing is I drink about one alcoholic drink a week these days.

 

[LizKat]

I used to drink at home as well. Sometimes with my parents consent. Sometimes without. Keeping crates of larger in the shed is not a good idea when you have a teenager son!
Funny thing is I drink about one alcoholic drink a week these days.

I remember an occasion when my parents had been away for a bit and as the eldest I was left in charge of the place and the younger kids and step-kids and hangers-on. There were maybe a dozen of us in the house, including some friends of the older boys, on the Friday of the weekend at the end of which the parents would return. So of course a party ensued once someone had managed to acquire a few cases of beer. Mind you not one of us was old enough to buy alcohol.

A good time was certainly had by all, and we cleaned the place up after, so everything seemed right enough. Got to the airport in time to pick up the parents late on Sunday afternoon. The lawns were even freshly mowed. That may have tipped my Dad off that something was a little too well cooked but he didn't say much past "well there's a surprise".

Right, so next day I came downstairs and my dad was in the kitchen where there was a free standing island on which he usually spread out the morning papers while waiting for the coffee to brew. But... on the island that morning were lined up all the many dead soldiers he'd bothered to fish from out the trash and bring back in the house. Oy, vey.

Excruciating to be the one who's "old enough to know better". I wasn't the only one grounded but it was a long month. It didn't teach us anything though, so it wasn't the only occasion when we partied, tried to make it look otherwise and did time for it anyway in the end. Guess it was all up to "rites of passage" although to the parents we may have seemed to be going in endless circles as there was quite a crew of us making the journey. It was still going on long after I'd headed off to university and the job scene...

 

[Apple fanboy]

I remember an occasion when my parents had been away for a bit and as the eldest I was left in charge of the place and the younger kids and step-kids and hangers-on. There were maybe a dozen of us in the house, including some friends of the older boys, on the Friday of the weekend at the end of which the parents would return. So of course a party ensued once someone had managed to acquire a few cases of beer. Mind you not one of us was old enough to buy alcohol.

A good time was certainly had by all, and we cleaned the place up after, so everything seemed right enough. Got to the airport in time to pick up the parents late on Sunday afternoon. The lawns were even freshly mowed. That may have tipped my Dad off that something was a little too well cooked but he didn't say much past "well there's a surprise".

Right, so next day I came downstairs and my dad was in the kitchen where there was a free standing island on which he usually spread out the morning papers while waiting for the coffee to brew. But... on the island that morning were lined up all the many dead soldiers he'd bothered to fish from out the trash and bring back in the house. Oy, vey.

Excruciating to be the one who's "old enough to know better". I wasn't the only one grounded but it was a long month. It didn't teach us anything though, so it wasn't the only occasion when we partied, tried to make it look otherwise and did time for it anyway in the end. Guess it was all up to "rites of passage" although to the parents we may have seemed to be going in endless circles as there was quite a crew of us making the journey. It was still going on long after I'd headed off to university and the job scene...

My parents used to go away a lot. I'd always throw a party. Of course not like there was any danger of it being posted on social media and being overrun in those days! I'd always clean up afterwards. My sister would just stay in her room studying. That never interested me. I was much more social back then. Beer or spirits were usually consumed. Often both. I think the only time I got into trouble was when there was a cigarette burn in the kitchen (it was a no smoking house).
If it wasn't my house it would be a friends. There was always a party going on as a teenager.

 

[yaxomoxay]

I just read the memorandum that Nixon wrote to Haldeman on May 13, 1970.

The memo is Nixon’s recollections of his surprise visit to the Lincoln Memorial. On the dark night of May 9, 1970 Nixon literally escaped from the White House with his personal assistant without telling it to anyone in order to meet young anti war, anti Nixon protesters that were in town to participate to a large anti war manifestation.

It’s a poignant memo, a very strange one indeed, about philosophical thought, “the mystery of life”, youth, desire, and how caging big responsibility is (the desire for poached eggs in a restaurant is telling).

The memo touches some politics, but the attentive reader will see that politics is not the main topic. I leave this memo attached as historical record and interesting documentation and not for political discussion.

 

[Septembersrain]

I was 14 or 15 when I first started drinking in pubs. I recall taking a young lady with me once (by young same age as I was) to my regular pub. I walked to the bar and asked her what she wanted to drink. In front of the bar staff she said what am I allowed? I could have died! Didn’t fit with me pretending to be of age!

My mom would take me into a bar. Still not sure if that was legal but they'd let me have a beer. I was about 14/15. It was quite crazy, my childhood. It was certainly never boring. There was no way I passed for an older age though.

 

[TiggrToo]

As I’m working whilst half the world is on furlough I’m getting a bit fed up with all the what to do whilst I’m bored at home comments on the news and tv. Some of us are doing the job of 2 or 3 colleagues.
End rant!

My CEO decided one member of the team I manage was superfluous to requirements and so got rid of him in a corporate purge 2 months ago.

Meanwhile my workload has gone up as sales have increased in the last two months and miracles are now required 3 times a week as opposed to the previous 2.

Just as well I absolutely love my job and see this as just another exhausting challenge.
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... meets WKRP meets Jerry Springer...

Two Cincinnati references in a row! There's more to us than Doris Day and Steven Spielberg I guess...

 

[S.B.G]

Of mice and electricity.

Around 1000 local time my sister telephones and says there is some electrical problems at the house and our father is going crazy because he doesn't know what to do.

As some of you may know, my mother is 67 years old and about 2 years ago she was hit with full on early onset Alzheimer's disease. My father's health isn't exactly very good either at 70 years old, but he still has his mind. My sister and her daughter live there with them, and I am only about 10 miles (16 km) away.

Growing up I always thought my dad knew everything and had all the answers to life's problems no matter what they were. Parent's always knew everything and could handle any problem that came our way. Or so the thoughts of a child seem to go. Now that I'm in my mid-40's I know differently. Though, my father did know his way around the house and could manage anything that came along well enough on his own.

It's funny, not in a hahaha way, how time changes us. My dad isn't the same person he was even just 20 years ago. The smallest household problems send him over the edge and panic sets in. All he can think about is the worst possible outcome and how he's going to be able to take care of his wife, my mother. When this happens, all of his capacity to remain calm and think clearly and deliberately leave him.

So when the power in the house started acting like a brownout he went into a downward spiral of panic trying to figure why and what to do about the problem. He was also driving my sister crazy with his chaos and that is when she phoned me.

I drive over there and sure enough some things in the house are working and others are not. The water was one of the things not working and so too was the sump pump not working, among other things. However, some circuits were indeed working. I did my best to troubleshoot the problem, though not being an electrician myself I was unable to figure out the root cause.

Then I phoned an electrician I know. A person I know and contract with at my office for our electrical needs there. He happens to be the owner of the company and I have his cell phone number, so I don't have to call the office number and go through the automated systems. It's good to know people.

He sent one of his men over and he checked things out professionally. Everything in the house checked out okay and he then went outside and pulled the electrical meter and did some testing there. He determined that the voltage coming into the house from the electrical pole was not correct. There were two lines, or legs as he called them, coming in and one was sending proper voltage and the other was not. That explained why some stuff inside was working, and some was not.

So then we had to call the power company. Thankfully, the weather here today is pleasant and there are no major storms or outages in the region happening. A crewman arrived rather quickly after calling in the service ticket. He verified what the electrician found and then walked over to the pole. My father has had underground service since the mid-1980's. That means the electrical wires run down the pole rather than extend from the pole through the air to the house. The crewman pulled the protective covering off the pole exposing the lines and did some tests. He found that the voltage coming down from the transformer at the top was correct. That meant that the problem was between the wire underground from the pole to the house.

That crewman was not responsible for working on the underground part of their system and had to call someone else. Again, thankfully the weather and everything else here is calm and two other crewman arrived within 30 minutes. They dug up the ground at the base of the pole and located the problem.

Mice had gotten in behind the protective shield and eaten through the insulation of the wires. Over time, water and moisture also got in there and shorted it out or caused it to burn up. The crewmen cut the bad section out and spliced the good parts of the wires back together and filled the hole back in. The power was back on and in full inside the house and dad was feeling better again.

Now, I'm back home, hopefully picking back up on what I had just gotten started working on this morning.

 

[Apple fanboy]

My CEO decided one member of the team I manage was superfluous to requirements and so got rid of him in a corporate purge 2 months ago.

Meanwhile my workload has gone up as sales have increased in the last two months and miracles are now required 3 times a week as opposed to the previous 2.

Just as well I absolutely love my job and see this as just another exhausting challenge.
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Two Cincinnati references in a row! There's more to us than Doris Day and Steven Spielberg I guess...

To be honest I’m used to being busy. I like to be busy. I just wish the constant references to how we are ALL sat at home bored would stop.
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Of mice and electricity.

Around 1000 local time my sister telephones and says there is some electrical problems at the house and our father is going crazy because he doesn't know what to do.

As some of you may know, my mother is 67 years old and about 2 years ago she was hit with full on early onset Alzheimer's disease. My father's health isn't exactly very good either at 70 years old, but he still has his mind. My sister and her daughter live there with them, and I am only about 10 miles (16 km) away.

Growing up I always thought my dad knew everything and had all the answers to life's problems no matter what they were. Parent's always knew everything and could handle any problem that came our way. Or so the thoughts of a child seem to go. Now that I'm in my mid-40's I know differently. Though, my father did know his way around the house and could manage anything that came along well enough on his own.

It's funny, not in a hahaha way, how time changes us. My dad isn't the same person he was even just 20 years ago. The smallest household problems send him over the edge and panic sets in. All he can think about is the worst possible outcome and how he's going to be able to take care of his wife, my mother. When this happens, all of his capacity to remain calm and think clearly and deliberately leave him.

So when the power in the house started acting like a brownout he went into a downward spiral of panic trying to figure why and what to do about the problem. He was also driving my sister crazy with his chaos and that is when she phoned me.

I drive over there and sure enough some things in the house are working and others are not. The water was one of the things not working and so too was the sump pump not working, among other things. However, some circuits were indeed working. I did my best to troubleshoot the problem, though not being an electrician myself I was unable to figure out the root cause.

Then I phoned an electrician I know. A person I know and contract with at my office for our electrical needs there. He happens to be the owner of the company and I have his cell phone number, so I don't have to call the office number and go through the automated systems. It's good to know people.

He sent one of his men over and he checked things out professionally. Everything in the house checked out okay and he then went outside and pulled the electrical meter and did some testing there. He determined that the voltage coming into the house from the electrical pole was not correct. There were two lines, or legs as he called them, coming in and one was sending proper voltage and the other was not. That explained why some stuff inside was working, and some was not.

So then we had to call the power company. Thankfully, the weather here today is pleasant and there are no major storms or outages in the region happening. A crewman arrived rather quickly after calling in the service ticket. He verified what the electrician found and then walked over to the pole. My father has had underground service since the mid-1980's. That means the electrical wires run down the pole rather than extend from the pole through the air to the house. The crewman pulled the protective covering off the pole exposing the lines and did some tests. He found that the voltage coming down from the transformer at the top was correct. That meant that the problem was between the wire underground from the pole to the house.

That crewman was not responsible for working on the underground part of their system and had to call someone else. Again, thankfully the weather and everything else here is calm and two other crewman arrived within 30 minutes. They dug up the ground at the base of the pole and located the problem.

Mice had gotten in behind the protective shield and eaten through the insulation of the wires. Over time, water and moisture also got in there and shorted it out or caused it to burn up. The crewmen cut the bad section out and spliced the good parts of the wires back together and filled the hole back in. The power was back on and in full inside the house and dad was feeling better again.

Now, I'm back home, hopefully picking back up on what I had just gotten started working on this morning.
View attachment 915746

Ours are on a pole in the air. I feel a lot happier now the overgrown trees that were here when we bought the place. Glad it’s all been restored.
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My mom would take me into a bar. Still not sure if that was legal but they'd let me have a beer. I was about 14/15. It was quite crazy, my childhood. It was certainly never boring. There was no way I passed for an older age though.

I’d go into the pub with my dad as a toddler and finish his pint (so he tells me). One day he got fed up with that and bought a Guinness thinking I’d not like the taste. Apparently I liked that more! Funny thing is I don’t like Guinness at all as an adult.

 

[TiggrToo]

I’d go into the pub with my dad as a toddler and finish his pint (so he tells me). One day he got fed up with that and bought a Guinness thinking I’d not like the taste. Apparently I liked that more! Funny thing is I don’t like Guinness at all as an adult.

Think I was aged about 10 or 11 (certainly before I went to comprehensive school)* when my old man decided (don't ask why) to get me a pint of Woodpecker cider one beautiful summers day at the local pub.

Sure I was way too young to consume a whole pint, and yes I threw it up afterwards (fortunately the pub was alongside the Stratford-upon-Avon canal and the waterway was an ideal place to use for such a purpose!).

I still maintain though that I became hooked on the stuff as a result...

* This was in the mid 1970s when it was very easy to get away with such things...

 

[circatee]

Backstory:
A brand new subdivision was developed. The address is not even in the GPS or Google Maps.
We purchased a newly built home, in July 2019; the first to move into the subdivision. With us now being in our 10th month, we have to present a list of items to be covered under the builders warranty. Ugh!?!

Earlier I had a lengthy conversation with the neighbour, mainly about erosion, and some of her warranty issues. She has some serious issues inside the house, and outside. This includes a lot of standing water when it rains heavily. AND, she only closed in November 2019. I guess she was not willing to wait 10 months before presenting them with all the warranty items. Honestly, at this rate, I do not blame her.

What's on my mind?
Now I am bloody wondering what tricks and solicitor type jargon the builder & Co. are going to use, to try to not fix all the items on our list. Seriously, it is a long list. Currently a two page Word document. And, I used Calibri 11 font.

Yep, not looking forward to this process at all. Especially, this erosion issue that we, and a few neighbours are having.

 

[TiggrToo]

Backstory:
A brand new subdivision was developed. The address is not even in the GPS or Google Maps.
We purchased a newly built home, in July 2019; the first to move into the subdivision. With us now being in our 10th month, we have to present a list of items to be covered under the builders warranty. Ugh!?!

Earlier I had a lengthy conversation with the neighbour, mainly about erosion, and some of her warranty issues. She has some serious issues inside the house, and outside. This includes a lot of standing water when it rains heavily. AND, she only closed in November 2019. I guess she was not willing to wait 10 months before presenting them with all the warranty items. Honestly, at this rate, I do not blame her.

What's on my mind?
Now I am bloody wondering what tricks and solicitor type jargon the builder & Co. are going to use, to try to not fix all the items on our list. Seriously, it is a long list. Currently a two page Word document. And, I used Calibri 11 font.

Yep, not looking forward to this process at all. Especially, this erosion issue that we, and a few neighbours are having.

New house builders don't seem to care. Near where my mum lives in York, England, new houses are being built en-masse on a well known flood plain.

If that's not a recipie for disaster, I dunno what is.

 

[RogerWilco6502]

New house builders don't seem to care. Near where my mum lives in York, England, new houses are being built en-masse on a well known flood plain.

If that's not a recipie for disaster, I dunno what is.

Here in the midwestern US (right near multiple flood plains) and I can say that develepers haven't seemed to care for a while now, here at least. My city is on an expansion spree where they just keep expanding outward and building new subdivisions and student housing in every direction.

 

[TiggrToo]

Here in the midwestern US (right near multiple flood plains) and I can say that develepers haven't seemed to care for a while now, here at least. My city is on an expansion spree where they just keep expanding outward and building new subdivisions and student housing in every direction.

I now live up on the hills in the suburbs of Cincinnati and I have to say I've never been more grateful of this fact as I have over the last few years.

Sure my neighborhood dates back to the early 1960s, but I sleep well at night knowing that floods are one of the last things we have to worry about these days...

 

[RogerWilco6502]

I now live up on the hills in the suburbs of Cincinnati and I have to say I've never been more grateful of this fact as I have over the last few years.

Sure my neighborhood dates back to the early 1960s, but I sleep well at night knowing that floods are one of the last things we have to worry about these days...

Yeah, I live where a particularly bad flood could wipe out small, flood plain townships completely. I don't live in the flood plain, but right near where I live (within 25-50 miles or so I'd say) there are multiple settlements that are basically ghost towns now due to bad floods.

 

[Apple fanboy]

The trouble with building on floodplains is the defences they build there just push the problem further down river to somewhere that never had a problem before. Water always finds the lowest point to expand into. Its not rocket science is it?

We have very bad flooding in the City where I moved to in December, but fortunately none where our house is (although the road to the village was impassible. Luckily there is more than one.

 

[JamesMike]

Watching Dustin Johnson, Rory Mcllroy verses Rickie Fowler, Matthew Wolff in a charity match. The big news so far is no caddies, the pros have to carry their own bags which makes for some interesting comments.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Watching Dustin Johnson, Rory Mcllroy verses Rickie Fowler, Matthew Wolff in a charity match. The big news so far is no caddies, the pros have to carry their own bags which makes for some interesting comments.

That’s funny.

 

[Clix Pix]

Hoo, boy, I'll BET there are some interesting comments!!!! The pros are just not used to that, having to carry their own bags! Wow, no caddies.....

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Watching Dustin Johnson, Rory Mcllroy verses Rickie Fowler, Matthew Wolff in a charity match. The big news so far is no caddies, the pros have to carry their own bags which makes for some interesting comments.

That’s funny.

Hoo, boy, I'll BET there are some interesting comments!!!! The pros are just not used to that, having to carry their own bags! Wow, no caddies.....

Agreed, that is funny.

However, if memory serves, caddies do more than just carry the bags, as would be porters; they - or, at least the best of them - also seem to serve as a sort of sounding board or adviser, or golfing consigliere to their pro.