The Retirement Thread

[12boy]

So far we've lost Monkers, Numbnuts, Screenman and now Mo. Does that seem right to you?
As I said last week on Thursday last I had my Moderna vaccine. Felt a little off and a sore arm but nothing major. However, and I mention this because so many here grapple with sleeplessness in one form or another, since the shot I find I can sleep a lot more. 6 hours a night was pretty good, but now it is approaching 8. I still wake up but can go back to sleep. Wondering if this will continue and if others find the same.
Your weather sounds fairly brutal with rain and flooding. Is this normal for your winters? We usually have a couple of weeks in Jan or Feb where the highs are -18C and the lows -30C. This has not happened yet and perhaps it won't.
There are some things that are done for this...exterior faucets are sealed 12-18 inches inside the house, and an interior one or two are set to drip a bit to keep the pipes from freezing. Further north there are outdoor plugs at motels so the block heaters people put in their cars will make it easier to start them. Still, that is nothing compared to flooding.
Off for a ride in a bit but I'll tank up first with a big greasy breakfast, including Marmite!
Be well and safe. I hope our missing regulars are ok.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

the greys were being systematically culled and the reds reintroduced, I'm not sure if that was in the Borders or thereabouts.

I think they’ve been doing that around Aberdeen. Seems to be working.

 

[ColinJ]

Our village is built on the Leeds Liverpool canal. Our cottage is perhaps 500 metres from the canal. At this point the canal cuts across a hillside which slopes towards a small valley bottom where the river Lostock flows. Now I've seen all these features many times but today I joined them up.

Above the canal many streams drain off the fields directly into the canal. There is a large stream which has carved a deep valley as it courses down to the Lostock under the canal. At this point there is a drop in the canal side which allows excess water to overflow into this stream and then down to the Lostock.

Simple and so clever. Today we would put in several million ££££s of culverts and huge concrete pipes.

That's very similar to the steep-sided Calder Valley. The Rochdale canal is parallel to and above the river Calder. What could possibly go wrong...?

 

[BoldonLad]

So far we've lost Monkers, Numbnuts, Screenman and now Mo. Does that seem right to you?
As I said last week on Thursday last I had my Moderna vaccine. Felt a little off and a sore arm but nothing major. However, and I mention this because so many here grapple with sleeplessness in one form or another, since the shot I find I can sleep a lot more. 6 hours a night was pretty good, but now it is approaching 8. I still wake up but can go back to sleep. Wondering if this will continue and if others find the same.
Your weather sounds fairly brutal with rain and flooding. Is this normal for your winters? We usually have a couple of weeks in Jan or Feb where the highs are -18C and the lows -30C. This has not happened yet and perhaps it won't.
There are some things that are done for this...exterior faucets are sealed 12-18 inches inside the house, and an interior one or two are set to drip a bit to keep the pipes from freezing. Further north there are outdoor plugs at motels so the block heaters people put in their cars will make it easier to start them. Still, that is nothing compared to flooding.
Off for a ride in a bit but I'll tank up first with a big greasy breakfast, including Marmite!
Be well and safe. I hope our missing regulars are ok.

I am sure I have seen posts from @screenman and @Mo1959 , in the serious/boring* parts of the forum, haven't seen anything from @monkers and @numbnuts for a while.

* delete as appropriate

 

[welsh dragon]

Next door neighbour?

Yes

 

[welsh dragon]

Mo is probably having a lie down

 

[PaulSB]

I don't know if this is real but I hope it is


View: https://twitter.com/Airwaysfoodie/status/1351259262551470090?s=09

 

[classic33]

All hunkered up, awaiting the colder weather, I'm assuming.

 

[PaulSB]

So far we've lost Monkers, Numbnuts, Screenman and now Mo. Does that seem right to you?
As I said last week on Thursday last I had my Moderna vaccine. Felt a little off and a sore arm but nothing major. However, and I mention this because so many here grapple with sleeplessness in one form or another, since the shot I find I can sleep a lot more. 6 hours a night was pretty good, but now it is approaching 8. I still wake up but can go back to sleep. Wondering if this will continue and if others find the same.
Your weather sounds fairly brutal with rain and flooding. Is this normal for your winters? We usually have a couple of weeks in Jan or Feb where the highs are -18C and the lows -30C. This has not happened yet and perhaps it won't.
There are some things that are done for this...exterior faucets are sealed 12-18 inches inside the house, and an interior one or two are set to drip a bit to keep the pipes from freezing. Further north there are outdoor plugs at motels so the block heaters people put in their cars will make it easier to start them. Still, that is nothing compared to flooding.
Off for a ride in a bit but I'll tank up first with a big greasy breakfast, including Marmite!
Be well and safe. I hope our missing regulars are ok.

I know @screenman and @Mo1959 are around. I think @monkers comes and goes as pleases her plus she had some bad news last time she posted. Not sure what @numbnuts is up to. I'm sure they all appreciate knowing we wonder where they are.

On the vaccine thing, yes I know several people who have reported a slight reaction. A sore arm and feeling a bit off plus a bad headache but after 24 hours everything is OK. If it helps sleep can I have a double dose please???

The flooding is becoming more of a norm. In my view there are two prime causes global warming/climate change and land development. For me climate change and global warming is definitely happening. There are many ways I notice this but two are key in my mind. As a child growing up winters were mainly cold, dry and often with a lot of snow and frost. Only yesterday my wife and I talked about how we never see icicles these days. Even 20 years ago we could get enough snow in the village to mean we couldn't get out easily. Today winter is warm and very wet with flooding all too common. The other thing I've noticed is professionally. I worked in horticulture all my life, very simply plants, there are many, which were only considered hardy enough to grow in the south-west are very happy growing all over England up to the Scottish border. The flooding, again my view, is a combination of the increased rainfall and the huge amount of development which has taken place in and around floodplains. Basically if you build on a floodplain, concrete it over what will the result be? Floods. Simple.

 

[classic33]

Bananas grown in Scotland.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12429745.pensioners-plant-goes-bananas/

 

[PaulSB]

Psssst.........wanna buy a house? Prime riverside location.....................this image was taken in the Ribble Valley just outside Whalley!!!!! Near the A59 arches for those who know the area.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Bananas grown in Scotland.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12429745.pensioners-plant-goes-bananas/

That would be in Fife I suppose 😀

 

[PaulSB]

2016 was a bit snowy.......this is one of our local climbs. Sheephouse Lane. Closed

 

[12boy]

About the concrete thing...dry stream beds in the southwest are called arroyos, and are known for being extremely dangerous when thunderstorms cause flash flooding.. in Albuquerque New Mexico and also in Los Angeles are huge concrete "riverbeds" designed to handle those flash floods. Mighty ugly, too.
It always seems so odd to me that as far north as you are you so warm. In many ways snow is easier for me to deal with than rain.

 

[classic33]

Psssst.........wanna buy a house? Prime riverside location.....................this image was taken in the Ribble Valley just outside Whalley!!!!! Near the A59 arches for those who know the area.

View attachment 569735

That's not too bad. Our council sold a piece of land, site of a former mine and pumping station, with planning permission.

Shafts from the pumping station goes down over 300 feet. Meaning the ground isn't suitable for building on. Local planning department turned down the application.