The Retirement Thread

[GM]

G'day 'all... Eating beans on toast as I read Dirk's post, Mrs GM converted me to having some grated cheese on top, now my must have

Good news with the hospital admissions lowering, hopefully ordinary hospital treatments will not have to wait too long.

For the first time since last March I'm going to take Mrs GM to Waitrose, feeling a bit more confident now the jab starts working.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Went out for a ride before lunch

It is looking rather spring like - stopped for a drink half way, as usual, and was so hot I had to take my coat off and unzip my jumper - first time for that since last summer!
Rode home with coat and jumper open - and sleeves rolled up - so MUCH warmer than for ages

 

[Tenkaykev]

A trip to Wilko to return two 5 litre cans of Cuprinol fence paint that had been delivered this morning ( I ordered the wrong colour)
They get quite heavy after you’ve been carrying them for a while.
I decided that I’d only get one can of the correct colour and pick another one up after I’d had my Bloods done on Wednesday. The sensible plan failed when I also picked up a 20 litre bag of seed compost on my way to the tills.🤔

 

[ColinJ]

Good news with the hospital admissions lowering, hopefully ordinary hospital treatments will not have to wait too long.

Sorry, that is apparently YEARS away, not weeks or months... [LINK]

• Without a radical intervention to increase capacity, it is unrealistic to expect the 18-week standard can be achieved by 2024 with current infrastructure and staffing levels. Meeting the 18-week standard would require hospitals to increase the number of patients they admit by an amount equivalent to 12% of all the patients admitted for planned care in 2017/18. This would be an unprecedented increase in activity.
• COVID-19 makes the challenge even greater. Over the coming years there will need to be long-term changes to how routine care is delivered, considerable effort at the front line and potentially an important role for the independent sector if the NHS is to return to a position of meeting the 18-week standard. But even with huge efforts, the reality is that longer waiting times for planned care are likely to be a feature of the NHS in England for several years at least.

 

[BoldonLad]

It was raining this morning.

So, did my generous Father-in-Law act. Collected Son-in-law's Bike (Carrera Subway 2), and, adjusted gears (rear mech) so that they change smoothly.

It is a very long story. Son-in-law is a great waster of money. Thank goodness he has a well paid job.

They moved house recently, and, I "rescued" a Giant Boulder MTB from the skip, he was going to throw it away, because it had a puncture. I fixed that, and, gave it to youngest son.

Son-in-law then bought a new bicycle, from the dreaded Halfords. Gears didn't change properly, even though he bought it (supposedly) assembled, not "in the box". At a month old, ridden twice, it was in danger of ending up in the skip, like it's predecessor. I sent him the link to the Youtube Park Tools video (how to adjust gear), but, like most of the younger generation, picking up screw driver or Allen key is an alien concept. It only took me about 15 minutes to adjust it, and, he plans to collect it on his way home from the office, this evening.

By lunch time, we had sunshine, so, out walking, just under 5 miles.

 

[12boy]

High wind watch (35 mph, gusts to 50) through tomorrow noon. In a few I will go to the dermo to have a TB test, then the library. After I return a few chores, yoga, and God knows what. On Thurs I will be at the end of the 2 weeks required for the second vaccine to be effective.
Be safe and well. Hasta luego.

 

[oldwheels]

Another nice day but still a cold SE wind. Forecast for next couple of days is pretty dire so out on the trike again today. Very little traffic for a Monday morning and only a couple of suspect quarantine jumpers. The local ones give me a wave or a quick flash of their hazard lights but strangers never do.
Three buzzards circling overhead checking me out. They used to be on every post or telegraph pole but not common now.
Got accosted but some nice young ladies ( I don’t think either were over 70 ) and another who arrived on her new ebike. Didn’t like to tell her it was an ugly brute of a thing but she was delighted with it.
They insisted on taking my photo and even borrowed my phone for the purpose.
Comments about Calmac are usually negative as satisfied customers rarely comment. They frequently now seem to change boat times at short notice and somebody in Glasgow heading home got a text that they had less than 2 hours to get to Oban. Road conditions were diabolical particularly Loch Lomond side so they phoned ahead and were kept in touch as they made a desperate dash north. The boat waited for them tho’ and they made it home.

 

[12boy]

BoldonLad, I do find it funny that while my sons like to treat me like the doddering old fool I am with computer and phone stuff, they have trouble with oil changes or dealing with a flat.

 

[postman]

I have removed the old bar tape.Eleven years old oh boy was it manky.Now I will wait till I have watched a YouTube video on how it should be put on correctly.More news I am sat in the conservatory with the door open cos it's 🔥 and sunny 🌞.That's the way to go,it's glorious,just waiting for my afternoon latte.

 

[ColinJ]

They frequently now seem to change boat times at short notice and somebody in Glasgow heading home got a text that they had less than 2 hours to get to Oban. Road conditions were diabolical particularly Loch Lomond side so they phoned ahead and were kept in touch as they made a desperate dash north. The boat waited for them tho’ and they made it home.

Isn't that about 90 miles? It sounds a bit dodgy to average 50+ mph in poor conditions!

 

[BoldonLad]

BoldonLad, I do find it funny that while my sons like to treat me like the doddering old fool I am with computer and phone stuff, they have trouble with oil changes or dealing with a flat.

I have predominantly daughters ( 4 daughters, 2 sons, plus, of course their partners where applicable). Daughters (including in-laws) seem unable to clean filters in Vacuum Cleaner, sons (including in-laws) seem unable to do anything remotely "mechanical".

I would blame the parents, except.....

To be fair, one daughter (Phillippa) is very capable at "practical" things (the wife of the son-in-law in my story). When they all learned to drive, I showed them how to put petrol in car, how to change a bulb, how to change a wheel. Phillippa is the only one who took any of it on board, eldest daughter even managed to run out of petrol, on her first solo drive after passing her test.

 

[oldwheels]

Isn't that about 90 miles? It sounds a bit dodgy to average 50+ mph in poor conditions!

Very dodgy. I used to reckon on one and threequarter hours Oban to Balloch and then Glasgow is another 20 miles. The Rest and be Thankful is mostly closed just now due to the heavy rain and snow melt causing more landslides so it has to be Loch Lomond which going north particularly has a lot of potholes and flooding on the landward side as well as being narrow north of Tarbet. Very little traffic probably helps also as tourist traffic particularly is often a right pain as they see no reason to make reasonable headway and often refuse to allow overtaking.
Never had any desperate runs myself on this route but to Lochaline was another matter.
The fact that the passenger was in touch with Calmac giving progress reports meant that they were able to judge whether they could hold the ferry.
There are penalties for running late so nowadays they cannot wait unless there is a good reason.

 

[Tenkaykev]

On occasion after our long Sunday run I've been waiting for the Chain Ferry from Studland to Sandbanks and it's waited for an Ambulance from Swanage heading to A+E in Poole or Bournemouth. It's quite a narrow channel and I've been standing on the top deck as the Barfleur Ferry comes through either heading in to port or heading out to Cherbourg. It looks so close its almost as though you could reach out and touch it.

 

[Dirk]

Looks like I made the right call in booking my tour of Cornwall from 12th April.

 

[Tenkaykev]

What's wrong with 2:30 am Thursday!
Other things already planned?

I do like an early start and empty streets ( though it's strange just how many people are out and about in the early hours,) surely they can't all be vampires?

EDIT: @Mo1959 excepted of course 😎