Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

We have rain! Not heavy stuff, but it's wet.😁 The drunks are even admitting we might have more than a dribble for a couple of hours this morning. A modest 20c too. 😊

My Buck Moon hunting last night was only moderately successful. We had cloud. 😐️ What I ended up with was like an early 1930s horror movie set:

-taff, I've avoided IKEA for at least 20 years, but Mrs Dusty's a fan. I'll admit I like the 3 bathroom cabinets we have of theirs. They all went together easily, and got me out of a difficult choice situation. Wearing OK too. 🙂

We still have real bell ringers here, not recordings. The church is a mile away, which makes it a lovely evening sound. When I was a kid, we lived 100m from the church. My opinion about them then was different. 😵

Prepare for rant later about Openreach. I think we have been lied to, but always pleased to be proved wrong!

Farway

No rain, and we've now officially moved into drought. I await appointment of Minister of drought and then floods, as per 1976. Will they bring back standpipes & share a bath with your "friend" ?😁 If history repeats Oct 1976 had highest rainfall for 250 years. You heard it here first, get those gutters cleared.

Am I alone? I have never been inside an Ikea

Taff What are you doing with your blackberries Farway? At the moment I freeze, raw, as picked. Intention is blackberry & apple jam once my apples ripen. But may change depending on amount, could just be crumbles

Well done on figs, nothing to beat a fresh one of your own. It's been an odd year for mine. But always next year, especially now I've moved Miss Figgy round the front in a more open spot. No fruit on her either. Just need to crack Apricots and our job is done.

Less Asking AI for help seems too much like cheating… but suppose they said that about cameras once… I'm sure they did, but these same people, happily use light meters, polarising filters, focus stacking, panorama stitching etc. I guess it depends on where your personal line is, art or faithful reproduction of what eye sees.

Dusty, good luck with Open R, it's the sort of thing that deters me from changing ISP or "upgrading", no doubt all choices will vanish but while I do have a choice I'll stick with what works for me

Ta Ra, behold a runner bean, I have two, so it's a glut 😂

Dustyevsky

Farway: Am I alone? I have never been inside an Ikea

You're never alone in an IKEA. 😉 Indeed, I recall taking something like 30 minutes just to exit the car park at the Bristol one. 😲

Farway: Dusty, good luck with Open R, it's the sort of thing that deters me from changing ISP or "upgrading", no doubt all choices will vanish but while I do have a choice I'll stick with what works for me

We're happy with the old copper wire coming out of the ground. I was told by the guys who put in the new fibre stuff it would enter by the same route, but eagle-eyed Mrs Dusty has spotted a 'spare' rolled up cable on the neighbour's pole next door. We have no cables crossing in front of our bungalow, as leccy goes a different way, and telecoms are under the road, so we aren't about to accept one now.

It could be a Mexican stand-off, 🤠 and I hear the Victor Meldrew Grumpy Old Git Award is still up for grabs. 🤓

No more figs at present here, but many look like they'll be ready in a week or so. 😍 Meanwhile, T&M's Hot Honey chillies are proving sweet, if not exactly hot.

EDIT: Reasonable quantities of rain falling at present. Although it might not last long, it's all welcome. 😊

twopenny

Cloudy but coolish. Inside feels cool and comfortable but reading the same temperature. No idea 🤔

Woke late, still sleeping deeply since the op so going with the flow of relaxing.

Yes still on copper here, it's cheaper so sticking with it. I'm one for not using sites for changing photos. Again hanging on to skill mostly, probably because my computer is too old to run anything now and I have lots of things to do especially now I can 😃

The photo group some who have 2 people at home to do other stuff sit and tweak the perfect photo. But then it's machine perfect, not their skill and patience. But each to their own. Whatever gives you most fun.

Once I've been in IKEA. Had started my travel to Scotland at 2.30am to be picked up by friends at 8 from the airport and taken there and Tesco's because they needed to while in the city. I remember nothing about it.

If it stays cool I may do some clearing of the dead stuff in the garden this afternoon. Not sure if it's best to remove the detritus now or if it's keeping the roots cool.

Got some rethinking to do about plants. It's very much traditional and suffering as am I watering. Should perhaps be replaced by crocosmia and such which seems bomb proof.

Went seed hunting yesterday. Tesco is selling off seed but the only kale was a fancy variegated one. I doubt it would be tender and tasty. Garden centre sells mostly flowers now. I miss the nurseries which have all closed.

Off for a walk with the camera this morning.

Dustyevsky

Update: The installers arrived early, saw the pole, and decided we were going to have an overhead connection. 🙄 We scotched that idea. 😛

They then looked at the job online and discovered we have a modern underground tube to the box in the road, so they were supposed to be using that! 🙄

So, problem solved, not that there was a problem in the first place, just crossed wires and zero liaison. We can't actually be connected up to the fibre yet, because the cast iron cover to the box in the road needs special equipment to lift it. Technology, eh?

LessImpecunious

Farway Less Asking AI for help seems too much like cheating… but suppose they said that about cameras once…I'm sure they did, but these same people, happily use light meters,
polarising filters, focus stacking, panorama stitching etc. I guess it
depends on where your personal line is, art or faithful reproduction of
what eye sees.

I'd like faithful reproduction really, which my phone doesn't always manage, but then I've got dodgy eyes 😁 Any recommendations for tweaking software welcome…

2P Got some rethinking to do about plants. It's very much traditional and
suffering as am I watering. Should perhaps be replaced by crocosmia and
such which seems bomb proof.

May be bombproof, but it's not droughtproof, mine are collapsing and turning brown, with part-shrivelled flowers…

One advantage of fibre - you can't get crossed wires…😄

We had rain too, this morning, best described as a dribble…

wort

Less I liked your photo, I find my colours aren’t the same as with the naked eye on my phone. Taff well done on the figs 👏🏻

Dusty great moon shot, I had fibre last time as was same price as other. They used same connection , no extra wiring.

I’ve been off a couple of days but dd2 is away and I am in charge of the animals, luckily she does not live far away. Cue me cleaning her house and tidying her garden 🙄 the mares tail is a concern. At the moment I am just pulling it out to improve the look of the garden, but it needs a plan to get rid. I filled her green bin and mine at home, I managed to cut the grass and edge the lawn. Though the weed killer I sprayed probably got washed away last night as I woke to wet pavement so it must have rained. Today is breezy and cool but the sun is out.

Farway ,if your toms don’t ripen there’s not much hope for mine. Also still only got buds no flower yet on the cafe au lait.

My back is aching, so I’m going to get showered, in the hope it will stop me doing anything else.

Farway

Less, 2P Got some rethinking to do about plants. It's very much traditional and suffering as am I watering. Should perhaps be replaced by crocosmia and such which seems bomb proof….. May be bombproof, but it's not droughtproof, mine are collapsing and turning brown, with part-shrivelled flowers. I have sedums [now rebranded, Hylotelephium spectabile ] and they are suffering, getting mildew and looking sad. Normally bomb proof and live forever, grow from any old green bit.

I'd like faithful reproduction really, which my phone doesn't always manage, but then I've got dodgy eyes 😁 Any recommendations for tweaking software welcome…

Just thinking about eyes versus camera. using a mobile we can capture the Auroa down here, in very good times & using a mobile, invisible to eyes, wonky or not. Down to exposure times or summat, and I have heard some phones "swap" your moon pic for a "better" one without asking, Wonder if they do they do same for Richard pics? Asking for a friend 😈😁

Tweaking software, I use on desktop so can't say about on mobiles. The Auto filters on my mobile are not up to much, hence why I use desktop if I need to, but mainly it's just cropping or white balance / levels stuff.

Wort Also still only got buds no flower yet on the cafe au lait. Sorry, mine are now going daft & showing off, Four big heads and lots to follow. Can't get a decent pic due to angles, I need a drone.

LessImpecunious

Farway Tweaking software, I use on desktop so can't say about on mobiles. The
Auto filters on my mobile are not up to much, hence why I use desktop if
I need to, but mainly it's just cropping or white balance / levels
stuff.

I think I need to tweak on desktop, rather than on phone (my tweak options there seem to have disimproved with recent updates 😒), to see how the pic will look when viewed on a bigger screen; also, am being persuaded to try to enter something in local art exhibits, etc, so need to be able to produce something that looks respectable at larger than mobile size!

Dribble of rain this morning soon evaporated in sun…

twopenny

Blue skies and sunshine, but the nice sort so far. Like a normal summer.

Still too nice to stay in and download photos. I went to the ponds yesterday but they are largely mud banks in some parts and green scum on the water surface, the waterbirds haven't produced a second brood. There's nothing for them to feed on with the surrounding ground rock hard and no grass.

Greater egret feeding in the open which is unusual. Also no owls when I went out last night. Maybe the much cooler weather has made them take refuge early.

Crunching round the garden chopping stuff back doesn't appeal but needs to be done at some point. And watering. I may pick up another hose to stretch to the front garden if this is now to be a thing. The amount of surplus isn't enough to use and lug around.

Bad news on the bomb proof plants then Farway 🥺 with even fruit trees drooping I'm not sure where to turn. Artificial plants?

Was dense cloud over Wales on Wednesday and a glorious striped sunset last night Less.

Dusty seems to have got some dribbles of rain, not a drop here. The fields are bare of farm animals because there is no grass so no hay or silage to replace what they are eating now. Apparently some have been let onto the moor in desperation.

The tiddly brassicas I planted into the beds in desperation seem to be growing with watering but I've run out of jam indoors because of lack of fruit. So blackberrying on the agenda and seeing if there is fruit reduced in the supermarket. Really desperation stakes.