I'm glad your friend thought I did OK @puzzler. I'm spending most of the year relying on my smile! . As a retired librarian I sympathise with your friend over others thinking they know better how to do things. It happened to me a couple times.
My physio appointment didn't happen, something I only found out when I got to the surgery. It was my fault as I hadn't noticed the email cancelling it as it I get so many emails to that account that unless I properly scroll through I miss them. I'm now on the waiting list for another appointment which I hope turns up soon. We have a walking holiday booked for the end of September and it's not going to great if walking is as painful then as it is now.
Another day on the train and another bad passenger to deal with. This one is much worse than last week's smelly guy.
I'm sat by the window seat. He sat on the aisle seat and promptly dug his elbow into my side, crossing into my space. At first, nothing was said. Then he tried to push more, causing me some pain. I asked him very politely if he would stop pushing. His response was to ask me to move further to the right; something not possible, as I am tight against the window. Note that he has the space of the aisle to shift into by an inch or two should he so choose, but he opts not to.
He's quite a lot older than me and given I have quite a debilitating chest injury, I chose not to escalate. Am just sitting quietly while this guy's elbow digs into me, causing me pain.
This is when the Train Manager has to get up and Manage the Train.
How do you summon them? Should one use the emergency chain?
That’s a hard one. Emergencies on the train are mostly relative: however it would be tempting to pull the cord (“ if £5 you can afford/ try your strength & pull the cord”) and then report that you thought the fat bastard with the sharp left elbow had had a cardiac arrest when he refused to get hos left elbow out of your right ribs…
I once had a similar experience, back in the days when I worked in London. The chap wedged in next to me persisted in digging an elbow into my side, though I asked him politely to desist.
On alighting at Waterloo East, the last stop before Charing Cross, I accidentally stood very hard on his foot...
Are you thinking of the line which once connected the SER with the LSWR, crossing the concourse of the latter's station? It fell into disuse a long time ago, but slight traces of it remained at Waterloo East for many years.
Or maybe you mean the fact that the platforms are lettered (A, B, C and D) rather than numbered?
If you letter your platforms you can't have more than Z whereas numbering has no limit. This seems quite short-sighted to me. What if in the future there is a sudden demand for trains and the infrastructure needs to expand to cope?
I quite often get trains from Platform 0 at Kings Cross, and of course Kings Cross also has Platform 9 and three quarters. I used Waterloo East quite a lot at one time and seemed always to be running from one platform to another as I couldn't work out where my train was actually arriving.
My morning was a bit odd. One meeting was rescheduled for tomorrow but I headed to the Town Hall anyway for a meeting with our museum curator and a local art gallery owner. He didn't appear so curator and I had a nice chat and she headed back to work and I headed home. Hopefully we can reschedule the meeting as I know he has interesting plans for a local building. This afternoon I have finished my Battle of Britain speech (Fingers crossed) and done some more knitting.
For a minute there I thought I'd found my way onto the Railway Appreciation thread by mistake .
We woke to rain, wonderful steady rain, that lasted all morning. After lunch the sky cleared and the sun came out and Mr Nen rejoiced that our fairly-recently-added battery was merrily charging from solar power. Cool this evening, with a lively breeze.
Cheese and tomato pastry swirls for tea ( @Heavenlyannie 's recipe) and I'm heading out for our church's house group.
Rainy all day up to 4pm in Arkland the Damp, but They say it'll be dry(ish) and warm(ish) for the rest of the week. The Annoying Drips which come into the Ark in wet weather - no matter what I do to try to stop them up - have been dripping annoyingly.
Shopp Ing tomorrow, as I seem to have run out of Tess Coe's Ready Meals For Sad Old Singletons...
It was sufficiently Moist here this morning to justify a coat with a hood and an umbrella,, although it really only served to remind me how much I hate umbrellas ...
Quite a gentle day at work, and everyone was being very solicitous about my health, which was nice. I hope I'm over the worst of it: it seems to be migrating from head to throat, where it's more easily managed.
No rain here today. A few minutes’ gardening was achieved and my tax return finally submitted. I made a pear cake and ate two slices of it as my reward.
A quiet and mostly cloudy day in Arkland the Autumnal - I have now taken to wearing a pullover in the evenings, and switching on a small electric heater. It's still too early to set fire to the Dragon, as I'm hoping to be able to continue without him at least until the beginning of October...
Meanwhile, I've tidied up my little food storage cupboard, and find that I've (perhaps subconsciously) been following the government's wise advice to stock up on tinned items. I've enough on which to survive a disaster for several days, as long as I've a source of heat - probably the Dragon. The cupboard contains:
Soup (Tinned and Packet Cup-a-Soup)
Tinned Potatoes
Meat Puddings (only for the popty-ping)
Mushy Peas
Baked Beans (for the popty-ping, but could be put in a pan)
Sardines
Pickled Onions
Pickled Red Cabbage (getting low)
Bovril (getting low)
Marmite
Fruit (Oranges/Mango)
Biscuits (Ryvita/Cream Crackers) in case there's no Bread
Chutney
Salted Peanuts
I could do with some tins of Beans, I think, and would welcome some suggestions for tinned Meat stuff that could be cooked in the Dragon - Hot Dogs, maybe? The Meat Puddings mentioned above are only suitable for the popty-ping AFAIK.
I generally fry hotdogs, I assume the Dragon has a hob. I’m also partial to fried spam for lunch when we go camping.
A morning of working on a mental health project, including a planning meeting. Then this afternoon I did some early planning for my first assignment on my Masters.
This evening we are meeting online with our offspring to play games on Boardgame Arena.
Please, don’t cook baked beans in the popty-ping. They heat up nicely but the sauce doesn’t thicken, so it remains watery which is disgusting. They need a sospan.
How are you with peanut butter? Good healthy stuff.
@Bishops Finger maybe corned beef? You could make corned beef hash with tinned potatoes etc. The tins of stewed steak and chicken in white sauce etc are quite good.
Dried European salami is good for dicing and frying up for adding to soups and sauces.
Thanks for the suggestions! I'd forgotten about Corned Beef, but I do like it, so some tins thereof shall be purchased asap. I also like the Fray Bentos Pies, but they're a bit large for one person, and don't seem to be available in a smaller size. Of course, I could have half for Lunch, and the other half for Tea...
The Dragon does indeed have a hob, or hotplate, so frying is easy (and usually very quick). He also has an oven, of course - also very quick.
So, to avoid getting myself in hot water, I shall try to keep this suitably vague. Some of you may remember that a few years ago I lost my job. The fact that the first person my employer let go after the pandemic was a little Mum working part time was pure coincidence, of course. To their surprise, I sued the living daylights out of the buggers for wrongful termination and won.
In the years since, many other people have also lost their employment in the same establishment and have also sued. Someone was so angry about how they'd been treated that they took the nuclear option and spoke to a journalist.
Which is how, of late, the specialist press has been full of stories about what a crappy employer they are. The journalists are aware of at least eight separate people who've taken them to court.
Now this whole having their reputation dragged through the mud thing was not part of the plan. So imagine my glee this morning to discover that the Head of HR, who sat and looked at me, and a load of other people, and lied to us, and gaslit us, and turned our lives upside down, and made us go through the stress and expense of a lawsuit... has herself been fired. They're tight-lipped about the reasons, but I think they basically amount to getting the company sued too much.
I can't tell you how it made my day to find out that Robespierre has gone to the guillotine. Part of me knows that she was just doing what she was told to do, but (a) that's the Nuremberg defence, and it didn't really work for the Nazis, and (b) she was personally involved in hurting so many people that I absolutely think she deserves it. Definitely feels like some sort of justice to me.
Absolutely, La Vie!
As I haven't got a Dragon, I suspect my sustenance in the event of an apocalypse will have to be tuna and sweetcorn mixed with mayonnaise (don't knock it till you've tried it) and peanut butter (of which I currently have none, but may address this deficiency) on crackers.
As four of my seven bosses weren't in today (two on holiday, two who don't work on Wednesdays), I had a gentle, nicely balanced day, and Got Everything Done. I even mustered up the energy to amble down to Tessie's at lunchtime and get a few bits and pieces. As B had several meetings today, I suspect tomorrow will be rather more hectic, but I'll get there.
Supper was sausage and tomato pasta; I'd forgotten that Cumberland sausages are quite spicy, so I'm now rather warm ...
Ah yes - Peanut Butter! I'd forgotten that as well, but yes, I like it muchly, though I never seem to completely finish the jar...
@Piglet - our local Italian restaurant does a delicious Sausage and Tomato Pasta dish, using home-made Tuscan sausages. It's one of my favourites, but it is indeed quite spicy.
I never used to like peanut butter until during lockdown I couldn't get our usual stuff and had to buy a rather more expensive one. I'm now a convert.
We headed to a suburb of city to the west to look at a photographic exhibition, have coffee and go for a stroll to look at a new bridge over the river. It was all with the aim that my husband could take his photographic group there for an outing. Trouble is parking is really expensive if you want to stay more than three hours as there are nearby cricket and football grounds and there was wasn't much that was very photogenic either. Therefore he's having a rethink about where to take them. I enjoyed it anyway.
This afternoon I had the meeting that was cancelled yesterday. I have a very busy weekend ahead of me, specially Sunday as I'm off to three different events.
@Sarasa.
I've found a store that has a nut grinder where we fill a bottle we take. We use the moderately crunchy grind and know that no sugar, salt, or other things are in our peanut butter.
No irritating train passengers today. That's because the ticket machine at the station wasn't working. So have had to turn around, walk back up the hill and plug my stuff back in to work from home again.
Given my contract ends next week, I don't think my manager is going to kick up too much of a fuss.
I go for Manilife or Pip'n'nut in the peanut butter line. I prefer crunchy too.
It was the first Lip Reading class of the new academic year and as usual was a lot of fun. Not sure that my lipreading is improving but it is good to be with people who face the same challenges.
I can take or leave peanut butter, other than for satay or topping brownies. But we have a large tub of Whole Earth crunchy on regular order for Mr Heavenly who eats by the spoonful.
Yoga this morning and then coffee with the ladies. I should be studying this afternoon but feel like I need a break. Mr Heavenly is out at a work do this evening so I might treat myself to a takeaway.
We've been out all day seeing Nenlet1 and the GrandNenling, which has been really lovely. It's good to come back to a house with a comfortable temperature and there have been occasions when we've talked about Putting On A Jumper. A couple of days ago I rescued my slippers from under my desk; I kicked them off at the start of the first heatwave and have been padding round the house barefoot ever since.
Yesterday's date was six months since we moved. We raised a glass of white wine to mark the occasion and ended up emptying the bottle .
Comments
Personally I find them a bit meeeeeh.
My physio appointment didn't happen, something I only found out when I got to the surgery. It was my fault as I hadn't noticed the email cancelling it as it I get so many emails to that account that unless I properly scroll through I miss them. I'm now on the waiting list for another appointment which I hope turns up soon. We have a walking holiday booked for the end of September and it's not going to great if walking is as painful then as it is now.
I'm sat by the window seat. He sat on the aisle seat and promptly dug his elbow into my side, crossing into my space. At first, nothing was said. Then he tried to push more, causing me some pain. I asked him very politely if he would stop pushing. His response was to ask me to move further to the right; something not possible, as I am tight against the window. Note that he has the space of the aisle to shift into by an inch or two should he so choose, but he opts not to.
He's quite a lot older than me and given I have quite a debilitating chest injury, I chose not to escalate. Am just sitting quietly while this guy's elbow digs into me, causing me pain.
Is he fatter as well as older?
How do you summon them? Should one use the emergency chain?
That’s a hard one. Emergencies on the train are mostly relative: however it would be tempting to pull the cord (“ if £5 you can afford/ try your strength & pull the cord”) and then report that you thought the fat bastard with the sharp left elbow had had a cardiac arrest when he refused to get hos left elbow out of your right ribs…
On alighting at Waterloo East, the last stop before Charing Cross, I accidentally stood very hard on his foot...
Incidentally, what is unusual about Waterloo East (which I passed through just last week)?
The people that commute through there. 🤭🤭🤭
Or maybe you mean the fact that the platforms are lettered (A, B, C and D) rather than numbered?
And stations with numbered platforms sometimes put in a Platform 0.
Stratford has the infamous and mysterious Platform 10a.
My morning was a bit odd. One meeting was rescheduled for tomorrow but I headed to the Town Hall anyway for a meeting with our museum curator and a local art gallery owner. He didn't appear so curator and I had a nice chat and she headed back to work and I headed home. Hopefully we can reschedule the meeting as I know he has interesting plans for a local building. This afternoon I have finished my Battle of Britain speech (Fingers crossed) and done some more knitting.
It opens a lateral on off-peak surface stations if you have sufficient blue chips.
Only on semi-fast services.
Well, it is on the Northern Line and we all know what station is also on that line, further north ......
We woke to rain, wonderful steady rain, that lasted all morning. After lunch the sky cleared and the sun came out and Mr Nen rejoiced that our fairly-recently-added battery was merrily charging from solar power. Cool this evening, with a lively breeze.
Cheese and tomato pastry swirls for tea ( @Heavenlyannie 's recipe) and I'm heading out for our church's house group.
Shopp Ing tomorrow, as I seem to have run out of Tess Coe's Ready Meals For Sad Old Singletons...
OK, that's quite enough railway-related tomfoolery ...
It was sufficiently Moist here this morning to justify a coat with a hood and an umbrella,, although it really only served to remind me how much I hate umbrellas ...
Quite a gentle day at work, and everyone was being very solicitous about my health, which was nice. I hope I'm over the worst of it: it seems to be migrating from head to throat, where it's more easily managed.
Fish cakes and veggies for supper.
Meanwhile, I've tidied up my little food storage cupboard, and find that I've (perhaps subconsciously) been following the government's wise advice to stock up on tinned items. I've enough on which to survive a disaster for several days, as long as I've a source of heat - probably the Dragon. The cupboard contains:
Soup (Tinned and Packet Cup-a-Soup)
Tinned Potatoes
Meat Puddings (only for the popty-ping)
Mushy Peas
Baked Beans (for the popty-ping, but could be put in a pan)
Sardines
Pickled Onions
Pickled Red Cabbage (getting low)
Bovril (getting low)
Marmite
Fruit (Oranges/Mango)
Biscuits (Ryvita/Cream Crackers) in case there's no Bread
Chutney
Salted Peanuts
I could do with some tins of Beans, I think, and would welcome some suggestions for tinned Meat stuff that could be cooked in the Dragon - Hot Dogs, maybe? The Meat Puddings mentioned above are only suitable for the popty-ping AFAIK.
A morning of working on a mental health project, including a planning meeting. Then this afternoon I did some early planning for my first assignment on my Masters.
This evening we are meeting online with our offspring to play games on Boardgame Arena.
How are you with peanut butter? Good healthy stuff.
Those would need an oven, not suitable for microwave or hob.
Dried European salami is good for dicing and frying up for adding to soups and sauces.
The Dragon does indeed have a hob, or hotplate, so frying is easy (and usually very quick). He also has an oven, of course - also very quick.
So, to avoid getting myself in hot water, I shall try to keep this suitably vague. Some of you may remember that a few years ago I lost my job. The fact that the first person my employer let go after the pandemic was a little Mum working part time was pure coincidence, of course. To their surprise, I sued the living daylights out of the buggers for wrongful termination and won.
In the years since, many other people have also lost their employment in the same establishment and have also sued. Someone was so angry about how they'd been treated that they took the nuclear option and spoke to a journalist.
Which is how, of late, the specialist press has been full of stories about what a crappy employer they are. The journalists are aware of at least eight separate people who've taken them to court.
Now this whole having their reputation dragged through the mud thing was not part of the plan. So imagine my glee this morning to discover that the Head of HR, who sat and looked at me, and a load of other people, and lied to us, and gaslit us, and turned our lives upside down, and made us go through the stress and expense of a lawsuit... has herself been fired. They're tight-lipped about the reasons, but I think they basically amount to getting the company sued too much.
I can't tell you how it made my day to find out that Robespierre has gone to the guillotine. Part of me knows that she was just doing what she was told to do, but (a) that's the Nuremberg defence, and it didn't really work for the Nazis, and (b) she was personally involved in hurting so many people that I absolutely think she deserves it. Definitely feels like some sort of justice to me.
As I haven't got a Dragon, I suspect my sustenance in the event of an apocalypse will have to be tuna and sweetcorn mixed with mayonnaise (don't knock it till you've tried it) and peanut butter (of which I currently have none, but may address this deficiency) on crackers.
As four of my seven bosses weren't in today (two on holiday, two who don't work on Wednesdays), I had a gentle, nicely balanced day, and Got Everything Done. I even mustered up the energy to amble down to Tessie's at lunchtime and get a few bits and pieces. As B had several meetings today, I suspect tomorrow will be rather more hectic, but I'll get there.
Supper was sausage and tomato pasta; I'd forgotten that Cumberland sausages are quite spicy, so I'm now rather warm ...
@Piglet - our local Italian restaurant does a delicious Sausage and Tomato Pasta dish, using home-made Tuscan sausages. It's one of my favourites, but it is indeed quite spicy.
We headed to a suburb of city to the west to look at a photographic exhibition, have coffee and go for a stroll to look at a new bridge over the river. It was all with the aim that my husband could take his photographic group there for an outing. Trouble is parking is really expensive if you want to stay more than three hours as there are nearby cricket and football grounds and there was wasn't much that was very photogenic either. Therefore he's having a rethink about where to take them. I enjoyed it anyway.
This afternoon I had the meeting that was cancelled yesterday. I have a very busy weekend ahead of me, specially Sunday as I'm off to three different events.
I am full of admiration for you keeping up with your busy schedule.
I am hoping to visit some places this coming Heritage weekend when sites not normally open are open to the public free of charge.
I've found a store that has a nut grinder where we fill a bottle we take. We use the moderately crunchy grind and know that no sugar, salt, or other things are in our peanut butter.
Given my contract ends next week, I don't think my manager is going to kick up too much of a fuss.
Everyone in the Rogue household who likes the stuff votes for crunchy.
Decent smooth is for satay sauce.
It was the first Lip Reading class of the new academic year and as usual was a lot of fun. Not sure that my lipreading is improving but it is good to be with people who face the same challenges.
Yoga this morning and then coffee with the ladies. I should be studying this afternoon but feel like I need a break. Mr Heavenly is out at a work do this evening so I might treat myself to a takeaway.
A dull day in Arkland the Cloudy, but it's still mild (except in the evenings), and set to be a bit warmer over the weekend.
We've been out all day seeing Nenlet1 and the GrandNenling, which has been really lovely. It's good to come back to a house with a comfortable temperature and there have been occasions when we've talked about Putting On A Jumper. A couple of days ago I rescued my slippers from under my desk; I kicked them off at the start of the first heatwave and have been padding round the house barefoot ever since.
Yesterday's date was six months since we moved. We raised a glass of white wine to mark the occasion and ended up emptying the bottle