Amazon exiles discussion
Trackless wastes
>
Today, I shall mostly be...
message 2401:
by
Gordon
(new)
Oct 20, 2020 02:02PM
You guys are making me long for retirement, when I might be able to have a dog again (if I'm fit enough by then).
reply
|
flag
Gordon wrote: "You guys are making me long for retirement, when I might be able to have a dog again (if I'm fit enough by then)."I waited 60 years to get my first. Wasn't actually thinking about retiring until Covid and my (pretty much realised) fears of the shitshow that would plague secondaries in the new academic year.
Brass Neck wrote: "Gordon wrote: "You guys are making me long for retirement, when I might be able to have a dog again (if I'm fit enough by then)."I waited 60 years to get my first. Wasn't actually thinking about ..."
Good job you got out.
My dad retired at 53 from the factory he'd worked at for 30 years, and a job he'd disliked for a good few of the last years.
He's 70 now, and has had a great time since retiring.
Talking of secondary school covid shitshows.
A secondary school in Tarbert, North Kerry has been closed by the headmaster. Apparently people hadn't been honest in informing the school about other family members with Covid. Also the local cases were very high.
Now the Dept for education is saying the school must be reopened.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/educa...
Our kids are bringing home all their books this friday. Just in case the school doesn't reopen after next weeks school holiday.Who knows whether they will.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/educa...
As I've commented before, I don't have the expertise to assess the risks from Covid (unlike, apparently, a large section of the rest of the population) but there is a serious risk to the education prospects of many of our children. Research has suggested that even the six weeks break in the summer has a deleterious effect on the learning ability of pupils. They lose the habits of discipline, application and also simply forget some of what they learned before the break. Home schooling is patchy - uneducated parents, lone parents, working parents, all up against it - nearly all untrained as teachers. Absolutely not their fault but damaging nonetheless.No winners ...
Isabella wrote: "As I've commented before, I don't have the expertise to assess the risks from Covid (unlike, apparently, a large section of the rest of the population) but there is a serious risk to the education ..."All true but then the long Summer break was never about education - it was all about furnishing a cheap labour source for the harvesting of hops in Kent! If they went a bit feral after 6 weeks of Summer imagine their return after 6 months of lockdown absence and they won't all have been sat at home in a nurturing nuclear family environment trying to do schoolwork online (even if they had the means to do so). The ongoing shitshow is the inevitable disruptions to their progress as class or year group bubbles are sent home to self-isolate because of one kid coughing and having a bit of a temperature (if they were Covid-positive they'd have spread it for a good few days before the symptoms showed) and yet the Govt seem wedded to the idea that GCSEs and A levels will deffo take place next year with only minor amendments to curriculum content. It also seems that the normal structure has gone out of the window for Key Stage 3 (Y7-9) classes in secondaries who now spend all day in one classroom while either being taught by one teacher for the whole day a la primary school or with teachers coming to them (wonder what happens at the changeover as one teacher leaves 30 kids, not all angels, before the next arrives?). Not sure I could adapt to being with one class all day, at least under normal conditions you know even a crowd-control 'lesson' with your most mentalist class will end after 50 minutes.
However, what is clear about the reopening of schools (and, of course, unis) is that infection rates are through the roof, especially amongst KS4 students - not a big risk for most of them if they have no underlying co-morbidities but how about their 60-summat teachers, their parents and grans? That's why the Welsh are keeping schools closed to KS4 after the half-term. If we prioritise keeping petri dish schools open then the consequences for infection rates are obvious and grim - should've tried a circuit break lockdown?
Post Soviet wrote: ""6 months must be the onset of the dog equivalent of her teenage years?"Multiply by seven, it would make... three and half human years?"
Actually more......https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/how-to-ca...
Yes Minnie-ster. Went down to Cleethorpes beach again - it's long enough so you don't have to do the same bits each time - and on the deserted 'dog' beach I took the plunge and let her off the leash. Bugger me, even with short legs she's like a rocket, straight off trying to catch gulls and other birds in the shallows with me calling then shouting apparently unheard after her. I've hardly had to use any treats so far to get her to do things but as soon as I bent down with the treat in hand she raced back - Houston, we have recall. Unfortunately her undoubted intelligence did lead to her parking her backside and looking at me with her head tilted several times thereafter until she was offered the treat. Never mind, a crucial step in our relationship has been taken and she can go crazy on the beach off-leash every time although there was one point when she headed out until belly deep into the river (Cleethorpes being at the Mouth of The Humber rather than truly coastal) after a gull when I had my heart in my mouth and I certainly wasn't too sure about her drinking from pools of sea or brackish water at the river's edge (oh and her picking up a couple of small dead crabs and a whole 6" fish were also moments of temporary disgust). She was panting after her supersonic exertions and has now retired to her new bed, a contrasting black curl of furriness against a white bed inner (probably not the best choice of colour?). As the Ramones would have it;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn63t...
Brass Neck wrote: "Yes Minnie-ster. Went down to Cleethorpes beach again - it's long enough so you don't have to do the same bits each time - and on the deserted 'dog' beach I took the plunge and let her off the leas..."Be warned, drinking seawater can have a disastrous effect on a dog's bowels, as can eating a several weeks old deceased starfish as Rig once did.
Derek wrote: "Brass Neck wrote: "Yes Minnie-ster. Went down to Cleethorpes beach again - it's long enough so you don't have to do the same bits each time - and on the deserted 'dog' beach I took the plunge and l..."Countdown to Brass experiencing a disastrous bowel effect.
Let alone Mrs Necks reaction.
Beaches do seem to often yield the most disgusting things for Dogs, if not to eat, then to joyfully roll in. Favorites of Dogs of mine have included rotting Seagulls and stinking seaweed.
It's pretty noticeable that, when the wind drops, beaches do tend to stink a bit. Seaweed, dead birds, dead echinoderms, dead decapods, occasional dead fish... Heaven for dogs, really.
Serial wrote: "Countdown to Brass experiencing a disastrous bowel effect. ."He'd better invest in some nappies with his next shop then...
Collette wrote: "Serial wrote: "Countdown to Brass experiencing a disastrous bowel effect. ."He'd better invest in some nappies with his next shop then..."
I'll try sellotaping my https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tena-Men-Act... on her before I part with hard cash!
We've just come back from a 40 minute 3 pee (all hers) perambulation which is unusually 'productive'.
Brass Neck wrote: "Collette wrote: "Serial wrote: "Countdown to Brass experiencing a disastrous bowel effect. ."He'd better invest in some nappies with his next shop then..."
I'll try sellotaping my https://www.am..."
Some might say you're a mite obsessed with your new companion.
LOL
Our golden retreiver (passed in 2016) once found dead rotten cow in the forest, got it's whole leg off and tried to smuggle it in a car. Took loads of effort to prevent this.Yeah, chasing seagulls not looking where running over stony beach, next day limping on raw feet... Familiar scene. '0).
It feels so natural to apply unconditional love with dogs.
Serial wrote: "Brass Neck wrote: "Collette wrote: "Serial wrote: "Countdown to Brass experiencing a disastrous bowel effect. ."He'd better invest in some nappies with his next shop then..."
I'll try sellotapin..."
A mite? He's more soppy than brassy these days ha ha. 😝
"dead echinoderms"i think we'd have noticed a dead elephant on the beach, gordon! really!
Post Soviet wrote: "Our golden retreiver (passed in 2016) once found dead rotten cow in the forest, got it's whole leg off and tried to smuggle it in a car. Took loads of effort to prevent this.Yeah, chasing seagull..."
"tried to smuggle it in A car" - yours I hope or could the dog pick car locks?
Tech XXIII wrote: ""dead echinoderms"i think we'd have noticed a dead elephant on the beach, gordon! really!"
Why do elephants have big ears?
Noddy won't pay the ransom.
Tech XXIII wrote: ""dead echinoderms"i think we'd have noticed a dead elephant on the beach, gordon! really!"
Those mutts can be very determined diggers.
Serial wrote: "Tech XXIII wrote: ""dead echinoderms"i think we'd have noticed a dead elephant on the beach, gordon! really!"
Those mutts can be very determined diggers."
Stop being silly. Tusk, tusk!
Tech XXIII wrote: ""dead echinoderms"i think we'd have noticed a dead elephant on the beach, gordon! really!"
And the folks at the circus would be very disappointed by the performing sea-urchins.
I saw a sea urchin circus performance once but there was no trapeze nor high wire - utterly spineless!
sea urchins became extinct! under the water it was impossible to pick pockets, sing 'boiled beef and carrots', and, well, the salt water just totally made the rags unwearable!
Just went to town, Lockdown? What Lockdown?Level 5, me erse.
Seems most shops have found some loophole to be open, I think by selling PPE equipment.
i know that 'the range' (soft furnishings/garden/diy shop) in killie, remained open for the first lockdown by bringing in a fridge to sell milk, which put them in the bracket of a food outlet.
Bet they didn't display a price for the milk, though.
hah! widnae ken! one of those shops that have barely any interest for me - mrs tech buys cat litter from there! miss tech, who works in poondland, tells me that, since the onset of lockdown, they have been smashing all records for takings, this has continued to the present. must be one of the few areas of growth in (actual shop) retail, outside supermarkets.
Tech XXIII wrote: "hah! widnae ken! one of those shops that have barely any interest for me - mrs tech buys cat litter from there! miss tech, who works in poondland, tells me that, since the onset of lockdown, they..."
Also means no lay-offs or redundancies. Have they provided any staff PPE?
We have a '2 Euro Shop' in our local town. But there's something hopeless about it. The carpet is as unsavoury as a lot of the customers. It seems to be favoured by 'members of the travelling community' in suspect joggers, buying energy drinks.
'members of the travelling community' - why the euphemistic quote marks? Are they travellers, in which case they are unlikely to be offended by a perfectly acceptable term they might use to describe their own community? Or are they another social group to be dismissed wholesale as undeserving of respect?
Brass Neck wrote: "'members of the travelling community' - why the euphemistic quote marks? Are they travellers, in which case they are unlikely to be offended by a perfectly acceptable term they might use to describ..."They don't travel anymore, unless it's a trip to someones shed to help themselves to a Makita Chopsaw or similar.
Brass Neck wrote: "Gammon much?https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/s..."
When a view is based on personal experience I can't see how it can be seen as racist.
Irish Travellers use the racist tag to get away with awful behaviour.
There's no hope for anyone that I've seen in the local traveller families, now housed in council houses. The children are taught to steal from when they can walk.
I've worked in a shop where they come in, the mother at the counter distracting the staff while the kids scatter, filling their pockets.
They're responsible for the current plague of Dog thefts across Ireland, as well as multiple farm break ins.
None of them work but yet you'll see nearly new vehicles outside their houses.
While the women stay home the men tour the country and abroad, ripping off the vulnerable. Taking down payments for work they never do and intimidating the single rural elderly.
This is all fact.
SOME of that community do those things, not all.
It's no big deal in Ireland of being a racist as you can see local clergy setting an example here,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zkL9...
"Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne has apologized for wearing black and brownface in an unearthed promotional video, calling it a "major mistake in judgement."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYOZ3...
Post Soviet wrote: "...and fascist too,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x70b..."
Classic, Father Ted never gets old.
Post Soviet wrote: ""Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne has apologized for wearing black and brownface in an unearthed promotional video, calling it a "major mistake in judgement."https://www.youtube.com/watc..."
Personally I'd classify most of David Byrnes musical output a major mistake of judgement.
Puzzling over the madness of our elected representatives. In Wales, with the new lockdown, supermarkets have had to stop selling "non-essential items" - socks, birthday cards, telephones etc - as the shops that sell them normally have had to close. In some ways, that seems fair but many people habitually buy their socks from the supermarkets. Who can possibly define what's essential? Why do supermarket staff have to be faced with angry and frustrated seekers after socks? Small local traders won't benefit from queues of sock buyers when lockdown ends because the big organisations will offer socks on line, for delivery.My other peeve this soggy weekend is the ending of BST. Why do we put ourselves through this twice a year? Upsetting everyone's internal clock for the sake of what? I know the argument about Scotland but surely they can choose for themselves? Other places cope with different time zones in the same landmass. And Iceland, considerably further north and west than the UK, sticks to GMT all year round, even though it isn't actually anywhere near the Greenwich meridian.
Rant over. Sleep tight, all and don't forget to get up at the right time, so you don't miss a minute of this exciting Sunday! ;o)
Heading to RSPB Snettisham, where there are, purportedly, 140,000 knots.
SussexWelsh wrote: "Heading to RSPB Snettisham, where there are, purportedly, 140,000 knots."Tied up for the day, then?
Countries with different time zones have exceptional east-west distances between their borders like Russia, Australia, Canada, USA, they wouldn't make sense with a north-south split in a tiny (soon-to-be-dis)United Kingdom. Could be good if you lived on the border when they call last orders in Scotland, hop over for an extra hour's boozing (not if you're the designated driver of course).As for 'exciting Sunday' I've just come back from a colossally productive ppp (two bagger) on which Minnie stopped as she'd seen the weird old bloke who lives down a track in a ramshackle cottage, dresses in camo gear and generally gives off a Straw Dogs kind of aura. He acknowledged the dog but didn't stroke her as it became obvious I was his target to unleash all his pent-up local history with a side order of xenophobia. It began with a remark about a planned new estate of 14 houses on a paddock just over the back of our road which has had considerable NIMBY opposition but he was in favour of it - it's an unloved patch of long grass and brambles but is home to a badger's sett and fox den(s). He reserved particular scorn for 'her that lives next to you' as she is ultra-opposed to the development - the badger and foxes are frequent visitors to her garden. The torrent was then a blur of excessively detailed reminiscences about what the village was like before and when various houses and estates were built, who owned what land and how much they got for it which would have been interesting but I've only been here nearly 25 years and don't know what it was like in the early 60s when I was a toddler in Sheffield. He linked all this with a barely disguised anti-immigration rant - the new houses were need for all the migrants arriving at Dover (they'll be £300k detacheds!) and I could get barely a word in and if I did he wasn't listening and all the while Minnie's sat on the wall fascinated - I had to drag her away eventually and he was still calling names and dates of farmers and housebuilders as I went off down the road.
On a lighter note I have a gig this afternoon at the Hope Tavern. They only squeezed a couple of outdoor gigs in after lockdown lifted but it's too cold for that so it's indoors, limited to 30 and, I think, FREE as a birthday present for one of the regulars who collects the door money for gigs. I've already seen Robin Bibi there this year as he was the first post-lockdowner but, what the hey, a gig's a gig. Still going to have to put Minnie in the kennels I picked her up from for a few hours as Missus Neck hasn't warmed to her yet and I'm still firmly on the naughty step, although the latter can be hard to distinguish from normality!!
Brass Neck wrote: "Countries with different time zones have exceptional east-west distances between their borders like Russia, Australia, Canada, USA, they wouldn't make sense with a north-south split in a tiny (soon..."Granted, but however big the landmass, someone always lives on the border ...
There are lots of health and safety issues associated with the changes - heart disease, mental health, fatigue etc. and with advances in technology, it's much easier to be flexible than in the days of no internet or even electricity. Farmers, for instance, work long after dark by artificial light.
Brass Neck wrote: "Countries with different time zones have exceptional east-west distances between their borders like Russia, Australia, Canada, USA, they wouldn't make sense with a north-south split in a tiny (soon..."You have to put your Dog into the kennels while you go out for a few hours, cos your wife won't mind her?
Christ.
That's rough.
You should sort out a dog run and kennel in the garden.
For your missus.
Well I don't like these clock changes.6.15 am this morning, we got up, by the new clock time.
Fks sake.
So I made a big curry which was cooked by 8.30 am
:0
Yesterday, all my troubles...... went to buy some food, thankfully for this purpose allowed exceed 5km distance, so we drove to the nearest (25 km) city from us - Cavan, the most infected county in whole Ireland. On way back got into the forest (we never waste the opportunity!) to check for wild mushrooms. Picked enough yummy chanterelles for protein rich, combined with boiled spuds plus pickled cucumbers, dinner.
mmm...
One good news with this pandemic, it's a long time no see annoying swedish teenage girls on the news.
"annoying swedish teenage girls on the news." - is that a feature of TV in the Emerald Isle? We just get lots of BoJo and go-Gove - when Nige Farrago calls you "mean and wrong" over the kids' free meals (which would cost £24m compared to to £500m splashed out subsidising the middle classes to go trough back in August) you have to do some soul-searching ..... ah, wait, I see the problem there......I heard on the Planet Rock news that senior Tory MP Bernard Jenkin is calling for the resignation of Di(l)do Harding, head of Track & Trace for the miserable, money-haemorrhaging, privatised fiasco she has presided over. A Govt spokesman declared she was "doing an incredible job" - yeah, right, I can't f***in' believe it either!
On the same bulletin, some brilliant mind is pushing the idea of music fans getting a Covid test 2 days before a gig/festival and a negative result being a condition of entry. Clearly hasn't been listening to the science about the length of incubation, false results but above all, how many people can get a test at a convenient time and place AND their result back in 48 hours?
Amazon exiles
Books mentioned in this topic
Time of the Child (other topics)This Is Happiness (other topics)
Time of the Child (other topics)
Mog's Christmas (other topics)
We're Going on a Bear Hunt (other topics)
More...
