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43 minutes ago, ckn said:

That's something that's not necessarily true.  We sometimes fly BA business class for cheaper than equivalent advanced booking standard easyJet flights.  It's all about timing and getting them at the cheapest rate.  If you're booking at fairly short notice then business class flights can be ridiculously expensive, but then so can economy seats at short notice.

Business Class really comes into it's own for long haul, I spend most of my time asleep. 
I did get a free upgrade to First Class flyng to Paris from Heathrow, the lounge was nice but the actual flight, very little difference from cattle class. BA and Emirates Business long haul however....actually worth the money. 

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On 11/7/2018 at 10:19 PM, ckn said:

I had a hearing aid fitted today. Left ear only. Within 30 seconds, my tinnitus was reducing and it was gone bar a faint outline in two minutes. When I turn the thing off, or the house gets too quiet, my tinnitus comes back fairly quickly. 

That’s an unexpected but very welcome outcome. 

I simply did not understand how bad my hearing was until I got this thing fitted.

We have a doorbell repeater upstairs outside my home office as I'd not heard the one by the front door a couple of times.  It went off this morning for our shopping delivery and I almost fell off my chair at how loud it was.  I'm used to it being slightly loud but not that much!

We went out last night to a restaurant that is notoriously bad for acoustics and I can rarely hear my wife in it at busy times or engage in conversation.  Switched it to the directional setting and done, easy conversation despite the table next to us being a bunch of older lads out enjoying themselves in the loud way that men can get.

And that's a standard NHS digital hearing aid.

The tinnitus thing is still pleasing me a lot, its amazing how much that actually affects you until you can easily turn it off and on again.

Another example of me putting things off and then being unhappy with myself for what I'd missed by delaying it.

"When in deadly danger, when beset by doubt; run in little circles, wave your arms and shout"

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In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

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With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

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We Shall Keep the Faith

by Moina Michael, November 1918

Moina Michael

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet - to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.

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On 11/9/2018 at 1:55 PM, ckn said:

I simply did not understand how bad my hearing was until I got this thing fitted.

Me too.  I thought my car indicator was silent until now.  Went to go round a roundabout and it went CLICK CLACK, CLICK CLACK.  Birdsong was another thing, how long had it been since I heard birds singing?  And then left home to get in the car when it was raining.......sound of rainfall was literally thunderous.  Had to turn it off at work though.  Receptionists are a bunch of b'*%dy fishwives ?

In the blink of an eye it could all be taken away.  Be grateful always.

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On 11/8/2018 at 5:10 PM, gingerjon said:

I'm in a pondering whether yoga would be a good idea mode.

I'm also in a "but I'm quite a tubby bloke" situation too.

Anyone out there with sensible comments ...?

I have been the middle-aged man at the back of the yoga class.

It is OK.

A specialist yoga place will be full of young athletic women and you will stick out a mile.  A leisure centre will be more mixed and you will still stick out. 

Keep yourself to yourself and be polite and you will be accepted.  No-one cares if you are terrible.  And, I was terrible.  As in I told each new teacher before class that I was not ignoring them, but was that inflexible.  Then in class they thought I was ignoring them and they tried to correct me. 

There was a shortage of blocks one day, so the class was told by the regular one each and only if you need it.  When I opened my eyes, she had given me five blocks.

"You clearly have never met Bob8 then, he's like a veritable Bryan Ferry of RL." - Johnoco 19 Jul 2014

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First night out with work folk with my new hearing aid. Obnoxiously loud pub in Wapping followed by a stupidly busy restaurant but I could hear individual conversations relatively easily for the first time in years. 

"When in deadly danger, when beset by doubt; run in little circles, wave your arms and shout"

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Just had an automated call saying ‘ you’re internet has been compromised and will be shut off within 24 hours ... ‘ . Bye . I didn’t get to press 1 for this or that . I’d luckily heard of this scam before. 

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My son’s friend rides a unicycle to school and has been teaching my son how to ride it before school starts. This has been going on for a few months.

I recently bought my son a unicycle and he now charges around the neighbourhood and elsewhere looking like a circus act.

He is begging me to buy another unicycle because he really wants to go unicycling with me. The task looks impossible but my son REALLY wants to do this with me. 

I’ve sent off an email to a major online unicycle store requesting suggestions for a model suitable for a guy my height and weight.... I’m still not sure though. It’s really testing my commitment to being a great parent!

This is a scenario I never anticipated..

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2 minutes ago, JohnM said:

Are you wheely sure you want to do this?

I’m not sure but I’m seriously considering it. It just looks really hard with a lot of falls between starting and competence.

My partner said something (all in good humour) along the lines of “ha ha! You already have a ukulele and now you want a unicycle. Where is this heading?”

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1 hour ago, Copa said:

I’m not sure but I’m seriously considering it. It just looks really hard with a lot of falls between starting and competence.

My partner said something (all in good humour) along the lines of “ha ha! You already have a ukulele and now you want a unicycle. Where is this heading?”

"Where is this heading?"

Obviously, that's up to U.

Sorry!

 

Rethymno Rugby League Appreciation Society

Founder (and, so far, only) member.

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6 hours ago, Copa said:

I’m not sure but I’m seriously considering it. It just looks really hard with a lot of falls between starting and competence.

My partner said something (all in good humour) along the lines of “ha ha! You already have a ukulele and now you want a unicycle. Where is this heading?”

Fig [2]

Copa, yesterday

Image result for ukulele unicycling girl

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Imagine my delight at 'winning' the ballot to be able to buy Ashes tickets at the Oval next summer.

Now imagine my joy unconfined as the reality of being, presumably, near the back of the queue and still 'more than 60 minutes' away from the front.

Reader, I am not going to the Ashes next summer.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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5 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Imagine my delight at 'winning' the ballot to be able to buy Ashes tickets at the Oval next summer.

Now imagine my joy unconfined as the reality of being, presumably, near the back of the queue and still 'more than 60 minutes' away from the front.

Reader, I am not going to the Ashes next summer.

I’ve only had the opportunity to attend one day at an Ashes series. Day 3 of the 3rd Test at Edgbaston, I won tickets through my employer at the time, Vodafone. 

It was completely rained off

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10 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

I can remember watching the Botham Headingley test on TV and thinking it was miles away. When in reality, it's a few miles over the hill from me.

Whenever I went there to OT I always remember the car dial told me it was 142 miles 

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Went to see the Anglo Saxon Kingdoms exhibition at the British Library today. If you are in the area and have an hour to kill I recommend it.

As well as the sheer wonder of seeing things such as the only original manuscript of Beowulf there's also the realisation that history can be rather brutal even when you want to make it a nice flow. The same people who gave us our language and who were, in 1016, consolidating into a powerful unified kingdom were within 50 years facing a genocide that would wipe their entire culture out.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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3 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Went to see the Anglo Saxon Kingdoms exhibition at the British Library today. If you are in the area and have an hour to kill I recommend it.

As well as the sheer wonder of seeing things such as the only original manuscript of Beowulf there's also the realisation that history can be rather brutal even when you want to make it a nice flow. The same people who gave us our language and who were, in 1016, consolidating into a powerful unified kingdom were within 50 years facing a genocide that would wipe their entire culture out.

A genocide much celebrated in your adopted hometown.

I haven't got round to seeing the exhibition yet but it is on my bucketlist.

I can confirm 30+ less sales for Scotland vs Italy at Workington, after this afternoons test purchase for the Tonga match, £7.50 is extremely reasonable, however a £2.50 'delivery' fee for a walk in purchase is beyond taking the mickey, good luck with that, it's cheaper on the telly.

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