Post a bad thing that happened in your life today

[sb photos]

3 hours ago, Bryan said:

Took your advice John and left the a6500 with lenses at home, but packed the little Sony RX100 V. The sun briefly shone in Pateley Bridge, home of what is alleged to be England's oldest sweet shop. Bought a used paperback from a charity shop in Skipton and read it on the way home, something you can't do while driving. Overall not too bad a day !

 

I'll be in the Skipton area during the end of September, staying nearby at my sisters. I'll likely be going walkabout in Skipton while my wife at Yarndale. Last time there before Covid emerged I was some distance away along the canal when I got a call asking where I was as my wife was out. My RX100 is always in my jacket pocket, sometimes even when I have my backpack on. It's quicker to pull out the RX100 than access my backpack.

[John Mitchell]

18 hours ago, Bryan said:

Took your advice John and left the a6500 with lenses at home, but packed the little Sony RX100 V. The sun briefly shone in Pateley Bridge, home of what is alleged to be England's oldest sweet shop. Bought a used paperback from a charity shop in Skipton and read it on the way home, something you can't do while driving. Overall not too bad a day !

 

Good idea. Skipton looks to be a quaint (for lack of a better word) little getaway.

The oldest sweet shop in Merrie Olde England is quite a claim to fame. Perhaps Chaucer got his sugar hits there. 🍬🍬🍬

[Rebecca Ore]

3 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Good idea. Skipton looks to be a quaint (for lack of a better word) little getaway.

The oldest sweet shop in Merrie Olde England is quite a claim to fame. Perhaps Chaucer got his sugar hits there. 🍬🍬🍬

 

Nope, not older the the 1827.  Possibly Tennyson or Wordsworth or Charles Dickens.

[Bryan]

5 hours ago, Rebecca Ore said:

 

Nope, not older the the 1827.  Possibly Tennyson or Wordsworth or Charles Dickens.

The Brontë sisters lived not too far away, at around 27 miles probably too far for a day trip in those days. How far can you ride on a horse in a day? Need to consider the terrain, it's pretty hilly in those parts. Maybe the shop had a delivery service......

[John Mitchell]

5 hours ago, Rebecca Ore said:

 

Nope, not older the the 1827.  Possibly Tennyson or Wordsworth or Charles Dickens.

 

I missed that. Tough to believe that no one opened a sweet shop before 1827. England goes back a long way...

[sb photos]

1 hour ago, Bryan said:

The Brontë sisters lived not too far away, at around 27 miles probably too far for a day trip in those days. How far can you ride on a horse in a day? Need to consider the terrain, it's pretty hilly in those parts. Maybe the shop had a delivery service......

 

Your mention of the Bronte sisters reminds me that Haworth is an interesting place to visit even though its a bit of a tourist trap. Twice I've seen film crews there, but not for anything major. There's usually parking spaces by the parsonage. Haworth railway station also makes an interesting visit. I've never been in the area for the Steam Punk weekend, always missed them.

[Allan Bell]

1 hour ago, sb photos said:

 

Your mention of the Bronte sisters reminds me that Haworth is an interesting place to visit even though its a bit of a tourist trap. Twice I've seen film crews there, but not for anything major. There's usually parking spaces by the parsonage. Haworth railway station also makes an interesting visit. I've never been in the area for the Steam Punk weekend, always missed them.

 

If you haven't been Lincoln is the place for steam punk.  This year it is running from August 25 to August 28. There is even a steam punk market if you are interested in that kind of thing.

 

I did last years and will, hopefully, be there this year.

 

Allan

 

[Betty LaRue]

On 21/05/2023 at 00:32, Bryan said:

The Brontë sisters lived not too far away, at around 27 miles probably too far for a day trip in those days. How far can you ride on a horse in a day? Need to consider the terrain, it's pretty hilly in those parts. Maybe the shop had a delivery service......

My husband & I rode our horses at a walk on country lanes to visit my sister. It was about 20 miles or a bit more. 40 round trip. It did take a half day best I remember. The visit was short..we did it more for the ride than the visit. As we neared our barn & pasture coming back, a full moon had just risen as it turned dark. Magical.
That’s when you are ready for anything…horses spook easier after dark & jump sideways when they see a suspicious shadow from a clod of dirt at the edge of the road. My mare, Torchy, a blood sorrel,  never quite managed to leave me suspended in air when she hopped sideways. But she did leave me tilted in the saddle a time or two. Thank God for pommels. (saddle horns)

Edited May 22, 2023 by Betty LaRue

[Rebecca Ore]

10 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

I missed that. Tough to believe that no one opened a sweet shop before 1827. England goes back a long way...

 

Before the Industrial Revolution, probably anyone with enough money for sugar had enough money for a cook.  From Wikipedia:  "Sugar was a luxury in Europe until the early 19th century, when it became more widely available, due to the rise of beet sugar in Prussia, and later in France under Napoleon."

[John Mitchell]

On 21/05/2023 at 09:07, Rebecca Ore said:

 

Before the Industrial Revolution, probably anyone with enough money for sugar had enough money for a cook.  From Wikipedia:  "Sugar was a luxury in Europe until the early 19th century, when it became more widely available, due to the rise of beet sugar in Prussia, and later in France under Napoleon."

 

Also, the owner probably means that the sweet shop is the longest-running one in England.  Sweet shops tend to come and go, I guess.

 

 

[IKuzmin]

Learned that a series of books on US birds uses my RF images licensed from agencies that I quit several years ago. Nevertheless, each next edition of these books uses the same images without any $$ to me. Contacted the editor, he said it is right for RF, but promised to replace my images in the future, admitting though that it “will take some time”. It’s understood that the images are not updated between editions of the book but the same is true for 90%+ of the content, for which author and editors still get paid. Should seriously re-consider RF work…

[Allan Bell]

4 hours ago, IKuzmin said:

Learned that a series of books on US birds uses my RF images licensed from agencies that I quit several years ago. Nevertheless, each next edition of these books uses the same images without any $$ to me. Contacted the editor, he said it is right for RF, but promised to replace my images in the future, admitting though that it “will take some time”. It’s understood that the images are not updated between editions of the book but the same is true for 90%+ of the content, for which author and editors still get paid. Should seriously re-consider RF work…

 

I have always made my images RM but I do not think it makes much difference these days when buyers can get RM images "in perpetuity".

 

Allan

 

[Betty LaRue]

Lost a family member to sudden death a couple of days ago. Last time I saw him was a month ago at another family member’s funeral. 

[NYCat]

So sorry, Betty. Losing people is hard.

 

Paulette

[sooth]

.

Edited October 19, 2023 by sooth

[Rebecca Ore]

57 minutes ago, sooth said:

In a community, people look out for one another. In cities like NYC, they look out for themselves, or they don't see anything Bystander Effect look it up.

 

I hate this city. Really gone to crap. Trying to cross a street, Doyers st, person on Citibike rental bike share tries to run me over. I always have my elbow out to defend myself and he brushes and stops hard, goes after me. Street full of people. I walk fast, but he tries to corner me, street full of people and tourists. Police cars are there, no police around, and the ones that do arrive yell at me they are they are there to investigate something else. People see the commotion, but don't see anything; I ask, and no they don't see nothing.

 

The amount of sociopathy in this place is amazing. Smokers who just light up next to u sitting in a park bench, people who litter right near a trash can. People who just look at u and hate what u are. A city of two halves, one where u have money, u have freedom and police protection. the other of people who fight for crumbs and think nothing of killing u for it.

 

Of course it doesn't help the fact that being "Asian American" means nobody, white, black, chinese wants you in their community; I belong nowhere. Segregation in the USA is so unreal.

 

My British friend here tried to explain to a bilingual Nicaraguan eager to make more money why perhaps moving to the US wouldn't be what she'd been told it was.   The Nicaraguan woman got the two year parole to come to the US and apply for asylum.  She found that getting paperwork done where she was in California was as bad or worse than getting Nicaraguan paperwork done, but did finally get what she needed and a work permit.  Got hired for a $15 an hour fast food job, then found it was only five hours a day and probationary.   One of her coworkers complained that she took an "American's" job and told her other coworkers that the Nicaraguan woman was an illegal.  The Nicaraguan woman went to the manager to complain about the hostitlity, and was told this week that she hadn't passed her probationary period and wouldn't have a job in the future.

 

Meanwhile, I'm in Nicaragua which the US plans to come in and fix with as little violence as possible.   The city I live in is politically divided almost 50/50, but people seem to realize they do have to live with each other after the riots in 2018.   Not as many Chinese as in the past.  I don't sense there's any Chinese Nicaraguan hostility, but I'm not Chinese.  Some scattered anti-Gringo prejudice, but I can't blame them for having it.

 

I loved having lived in NYC, but the treatment of women on the street and on subways could be appalling.   A Nicaraguan friend who traveled with me to Mexico City noticed that the guys were better behaved than even in Jinotega, not even talking among themselves about women's sexual attributes.   I really loved Mexico City, but can't afford to live there. 

[sooth]

Nice, I sit down for a min, somebody comes over sits next to me. I smell burning, I turn around,  Guess what, he smoking something in a crack pipe. Fk.

[Allan Bell]

On 24/05/2023 at 15:34, Betty LaRue said:

Lost a family member to sudden death a couple of days ago. Last time I saw him was a month ago at another family member’s funeral. 

 

So sorry for your sudden loss.

 

Allan

 

[Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg]

Day 6 of a 22 day itinerary;

a hotel desk clerk didn't want his picture taken;

for every 25 people I snap ~1 says "don't take my picture"...

😯 WHY DWELL ON THE 1 THAT GOT AWAY?

😮 WHY NOT DWELL ON THE 24 THAT WILL PRODUCE FUTURE INCOME...??!!
😍 YEAH BABY, TRANSFER THIS TO THE SOMETHING GOOD THREAD...

[Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg]

On 24/05/2023 at 10:34, Betty LaRue said:

Lost a family member to sudden death...

dearest Betty

let me know

if there's anything

I can do

[Betty LaRue]

On 27/05/2023 at 19:48, Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg said:

dearest Betty

let me know

if there's anything

I can do

Thank you, Jeff. 

[sb photos]

Last night a drive that took me just over an hour outgoing took 3 hours to return in chaotic traffic. 

[Bryan]

Not too many bad things of late, which can't be good.

 

So let's pick the weather. While elsewhere in the UK they have had glorious sunshine we here in the north east have had cloud and cold. This coupled with a lack of rain for the past couple of weeks is not good for the gardens. I had to water my potato and parsnip plants, the ground was cracking around them.   Those outdoor cucumbers that survived slug attack are looking distinctly miserable.   Would I prefer rain or sun, at this time we desperately need rain, but sun is forecast for the weekend.

 

Ok, worse things happen at sea etc

[gvallee]

Ok, I've got some minor bad news, it's more a case of experience. 

 

We're at long last ready to hit the open road again next week, so we took our bus for the standard 10,000km service before driving many thousand kms. It involves changing the oil, air and fuel filters. It's never simple to find a garage that can service our type of vehicle. Plus it's a 4x4 conversion, adding complexity to operations. Anyway, located one who accepted, dropped the bus in and took a taxi to a nearby shopping centre where we spent the day waiting. I hate this but what can we do, we live in our bus.

 

By 5pm, Uber'ed it back to garage where they're still busy underneath it. They said they won't finish tonight, we can sleep in their yard if we want, which we agreed to. Hey, zero cost accommodation. We opened the bar as usual and slept there. Next morning, the mechanic starts the engine to check something else. Shouts outside! Oil is leaking massively underneath. They think the O ring has got out of shape and damaged the new filter. They order a new filter. We wait. New filter fitted, start the engine, oil massively spills again. By then, their driveway is an oil bath. They take it out on the apprentice. Turns out it was not the garage's fault, there was a cross reference problem as to the type of filter needed. They apologize to the apprentice.

 

The worst is to sit in the bus while this is happening and hear all their conversations. Very stressful. If we had insisted leaving in the evening and bringing it back the following morning, we would not have noticed the oil leak in the dark and lost the engine. Anyway, now it's all good and we're back on the road. Phew! All in a retiree's day!

 

 

 

Edited June 8, 2023 by gvallee

[Allan Bell]

15 minutes ago, gvallee said:

Ok, I've got some minor bad news, it's more a case of experience. 

 

We're at long last ready to hit the open road again next week, so we took our bus for the standard 10,000km service before driving many thousand kms. It involves changing the oil, air and fuel filters. It's never simple to find a garage that can service our type of vehicle. Plus it's a 4x4 conversion, adding complexity to operations. Anyway, located one who accepted, dropped the bus in and took a taxi to a nearby shopping centre where we spent the day waiting. I hate this but what can we do, we live in our bus.

 

By 5pm, Uber'ed it back to garage where they're still busy underneath it. They said they won't finish tonight, we can sleep in their yard if we want, which we agreed to. Hey, zero cost accommodation. We opened the bar as usual and slept there. Next morning, the mechanic starts the engine to check something else. Shouts outside! Oil is leaking massively underneath. They think the O ring has got out of shape and damaged the new filter. They order a new filter. We wait. New filter fitted, start the engine, oil massively spills again. By then, their driveway is an oil bath. They take it out on the apprentice. Turns out it was not the garage's fault, there was a cross reference problem as to the type of filter needed. They apologize to the apprentice.

 

The worst is to sit in the bus while this is happening and hear all their conversations. Very stressful. If we had insisted leaving in the evening and bringing it back the following morning, we would not have noticed the oil leak in the dark and lost the engine. Anyway, now it's all good and we're back on the road. Phew! All in a retiree's day!

 

 

 

 

Hope you have not put the mockers on my car service. Just about to leave to take it in.

 

Allan