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Minor Strangeness (IHTM)

WanderingFox said:
The obvious question is how it found its way there
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Depending on where you live, it could most likely be something a lot smaller than a rat, possibly a field mouse.

In a house I used to live in we once had a field mouse get into our loft space - we had heard something scratching about one night and thought that a bird had got in there. Upon going up there for a look about the next day there was no evidence of any avian intrusion, but we did find a small collection of bits of paper, straw etc and some tiny, tiny droppings.
We called in a pest control company and the chap that came was very good.
He placed a couple of humane traps in the area (they tip to one side once a mouse enters and the entrance clicks shut) and explained that they were baited with a mixture of peanut butter and chocolate spread (it's what mice like apparently) and came back the next day to remove the captured rodent.
He told us that, at this time of year when the weather gets a bit colder, your humble field mouse will seek somewhere cosy to 'hole up' and find their way into houses, but will access your property through the smallest of holes - basically if you can poke a pencil through a hole then a mouse will get in through it!
 
Floyd1 said:
Saturday was bloomin terrible. Not too bad here yesterday.
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Same'ere. We went out yesterday (the Sunday) and did two rides, one curtailed due to Techy's oversogginess and the second dry and sunny.

We have little micro-chats with the horse riders as we pass them ('Two cyclists passing, single file, is that OK?' 'Yes, thank you, lovely day!' 'Better than this morning!' 'Were you out in that too?' 'Yes, rotten luck!' 'We're gluttons for punishment!' etc) so the rider can reassure the horse.

It occurs to me that horses have to be exercised in all weathers whereas bikes can stay at home. :chuckle:
 
escargot said:
Same'ere. We went out yesterday (the Sunday) and did two rides, one curtailed due to Techy's oversogginess and the second dry and sunny.

We have little micro-chats with the horse riders as we pass them ('Two cyclists passing, single file, is that OK?' 'Yes, thank you, lovely day!' 'Better than this morning!' 'Were you out in that too?' 'Yes, rotten luck!' 'We're gluttons for punishment!' etc) so the rider can reassure the horse.

It occurs to me that horses have to be exercised in all weathers whereas bikes can stay at home. :chuckle:
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I wonder what people find to talk about in countries that have predictable weather or where it's hot and dry every day for months? ''Hot and dry again today''. ''Yes''. When I first went to Israel it was the end of February and there was some rain- in the North anyway. By mid March an Israeli guy told me that it wouldn't rain now until October. And he was spot on.
 
Floyd1 said:
I wonder what people find to talk about in countries that have predictable weather or where it's hot and dry every day for months? ''Hot and dry again today''. ''Yes''. When I first went to Israel it was the end of February and there was some rain- in the North anyway. By mid March an Israeli guy told me that it wouldn't rain now until October. And he was spot on.
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Scorchio

 
Floyd1 said:
I wonder what people find to talk about in countries that have predictable weather or where it's hot and dry every day for months? ''Hot and dry again today''. ''Yes''. When I first went to Israel it was the end of February and there was some rain- in the North anyway. By mid March an Israeli guy told me that it wouldn't rain now until October. And he was spot on.
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People complain about the weather everywhere, even in stable climates. In Guatemala, with wet/dry season climate and predictable temperatures, people still greet each other with grumbles about how hot/cold/wet it is.
 
Floyd1 said:
I wonder what people find to talk about in countries that have predictable weather or where it's hot and dry every day for months? ''Hot and dry again today''. ''Yes''. When I first went to Israel it was the end of February and there was some rain- in the North anyway. By mid March an Israeli guy told me that it wouldn't rain now until October. And he was spot on.
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People with outdoor occupations or hobbies always have an eye on the weather. Extremes of it are important.

Personally I feel that even a basic knowledge of how the weather is behaving gives us a link to nature. We need that.

Imagine living in a place where your only experience of the weather is a glimpse through a window or watching the news reports. Horrific.

Anyone who's been in hospital will know all about it.
 
Floyd1 said:
Watched a prog last eve about the Doors 5th album Morrison Hotel. Quite often when watching the idiot box I'll put the subtitles on, not because I'm deaf, but because the volume goes up and down all the time, especially when the adverts come on, but even in the prog itself and it's a pain to have to keep altering the volume up/down every 30 seconds, so I have it on low. Also it's handy for knowing what the lyrics are in some songs. They're usually accurate, but last night there were lots of mistakes. For eg when someone said 'Harmonica' the titles said 'our monitor'. Is this just a slip by the person who was 'translating' or is it all done by computers now I wonder?
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I like the adverts best. I usually mute the programmes
 
Floyd1 said:
Often when unblocking gutters/downpipes I find slugs and worms in the leaf/soil debris, especially when it's a lump of the stuff in the bend of the pipe. Heaven only knows how they get up there. Or how they manage when it rains.
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There was a slug on my BEDROOM CURTAINS the other day when I went to draw them. Upstairs, indoors, in a room that bears no trace of slug ingress, so it must have come in through the window. Perhaps the little buggers have borrowed @Floyd1 's ladder and rope...
 
SimonBurchell said:
People complain about the weather everywhere, even in stable climates. In Guatemala, with wet/dry season climate and predictable temperatures, people still greet each other with grumbles about how hot/cold/wet it is.
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escargot said:
People with outdoor occupations or hobbies always have an eye on the weather. Extremes of it are important.

Personally I feel that even a basic knowledge of how the weather is behaving gives us a link to nature. We need that.

Imagine living in a place where your only experience of the weather is a glimpse through a window or watching the news reports. Horrific.

Anyone who's been in hospital will know all about it.
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What fascinates me (and I'm as guilty of it as anyone) is how even in the middle of winter the British will say how cold and miserable it is even though it's been like that every winter since they were born. - It's like we're suprised by it being rubbish. - Sounds like it's a universal topic though!
 
Spring Heeled Spud said:
I like the adverts best. I usually mute the programmes
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I would agree with you in 'the old days' when there were funny adverts (usually for beer/lager), but now everything is so politically correct that that seems to have gone out the window. Add in all the ones that are for gambling/weight loss et al, and they are mainly rubbish. Bring back the Smash Martians!! (Of course you wouldn't be able to have the dowdy housewife carrying the bag of spuds up the hill though, it would have to be a male.)
 
catseye said:
There was a slug on my BEDROOM CURTAINS the other day when I went to draw them. Upstairs, indoors, in a room that bears no trace of slug ingress, so it must have come in through the window. Perhaps the little buggers have borrowed @Floyd1 's ladder and rope...
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Doesn't surprise me. When it's been rainy for a few days I often see snails on the outside of the window of my home-office. It's upstairs. Snails and slugs are surprisingly good at climbing up walls.
 
Gloucestrian said:
Doesn't surprise me. When it's been rainy for a few days I often see snails on the outside of the window of my home-office. It's upstairs. Snails and slugs are surprisingly good at climbing up walls.
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Techy reckons there's a slug the size of a small terrier next to our bins.
catseye said:
There was a slug on my BEDROOM CURTAINS the other day when I went to draw them. Upstairs, indoors, in a room that bears no trace of slug ingress, so it must have come in through the window. Perhaps the little buggers have borrowed @Floyd1 's ladder and rope...
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When we kept dogs their bowls'd be occupied overnight by gigantic slugs. We couldn't find any slugs in the house so I assumed they broke in through the cat flap.
 
Floyd1 said:
What fascinates me (and I'm as guilty of it as anyone) is how even in the middle of winter the British will say how cold and miserable it is even though it's been like that every winter since they were born. - It's like we're suprised by it being rubbish. - Sounds like it's a universal topic though!
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I get that from Techy. He argues with the weather forecast and insists it's going to be sunny enough for a bike ride, then grouses when he gets wet. It's as if the weather is totally unpredictable.
 
Floyd1 said:
in 'the old days'
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My particular bugbear is car adverts. In the UK the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) has strict rules relating to how car adverts are made.
You're not allowed to depict speed, or acceleration, or handling, or excitement, so all car adverts are basically bore-fest depictions of the car at a virtual standstill (or actually at a standstill) with the occupants talking about the cars colour or something inane.
I remember when car adverts were a mini-film displaying how the car could drive (eg) along a train track with flames coming out the back to a rock music backing track while the driver smoked a cigar and had a 'dolly bird' in the front seat.
Not any more.
Sometimes I see an entire advert for a car and don't even realise it is an advert for a car until the last frame.
 
Trevp666 said:
My particular bugbear is car adverts. In the UK the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) has strict rules relating to how car adverts are made.
You're not allowed to depict speed, or acceleration, or handling, or excitement, so all car adverts are basically bore-fest depictions of the car at a virtual standstill (or actually at a standstill) with the occupants talking about the cars colour or something inane.
I remember when car adverts were a mini-film displaying how the car could drive (eg) along a train track with flames coming out the back to a rock music backing track while the driver smoked a cigar and had a 'dolly bird' in the front seat.
Not any more.
Sometimes I see an entire advert for a car and don't even realise it is an advert for a car until the last frame.
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Exactly. And they're often set in a place that obviously isn't the UK (because it's bright, sunny and the roads are straight, wide and clean).
And now you mention it, I think we should bring back the phrase 'dolly bird'. I'm going to start using it in public and see what happens.
 
A minor strangeness that has right royally pissed me off.

I'm very bad at remembering to pay bills on time. Direct debits are fine, they go automatically, but I've got a credit card that I don't pay by direct debit because I sometimes pay off more, sometimes just the due amount, depending on how flush I'm feeling. If I'm rich that month, I pay well over the due amount, if I'm a bit skint I just pay the minimum.

Because I'm bad at remembering to pay I have a reminder set up on my phone, to pop up on my screen on the 30th of every month (payment is due on 01 of the month). Reminder pops up - I sort the payment, all done. Today I suddenly thought 'I haven't paid the credit card bill! Went online to check, no, I hadn't paid, so I did it today, a few days late, but sobeit.

The reminder never popped up on 30 September. I checked on my phone, it's there, still showing to come up on 30th, but last month - nothing. The bastard.
 
I'm not sure if this belongs here, ( but it's certainly a 'Major' strangeness to me, let alone a minor one); MrsF works in a building where there is also a dentist. The other day a young male turned up for an appointment with said dentist, wearing a tracksuit, smoking a roll-up and drinking a can of beer.
Is this something that would not be considered strange these days?

(My friend once said a woman waiting in the doctors surgery was eating a bag of crisps but that was in Crewe so......)
 
catseye said:
I'm very bad at remembering to pay bills on time.
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Same here. I do a similar thing but instead of relying on a reminder I just leave the bill with the payment dates on my dining table (I rarely dine on it) and use a highlighter to strike through the ones I've paid - so as long as when I look at my bills all of the highlighted ones take me up to a month from now I'm ok.
Every couple of months I pay a block of 3 or months worth and get ahead.
But then, I can afford to do that, many can't.
 
Floyd1 said:
I'm not sure if this belongs here, ( but it's certainly a 'Major' strangeness to me, let alone a minor one); MrsF works in a building where there is also a dentist. The other day a young male turned up for an appointment with said dentist, wearing a tracksuit, smoking a roll-up and drinking a can of beer.
Is this something that would not be considered strange these days?

(My friend once said a woman waiting in the doctors surgery was eating a bag of crisps but that was in Crewe so......)
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What's the strange bit here? Apart from smoking at the dentist's.
 
Trevp666 said:
Same here. I do a similar thing but instead of relying on a reminder I just leave the bill with the payment dates on my dining table (I rarely dine on it) and use a highlighter to strike through the ones I've paid - so as long as when I look at my bills all of the highlighted ones take me up to a month from now I'm ok.
Every couple of months I pay a block of 3 or months worth and get ahead.
But then, I can afford to do that, many can't.
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I don't get a bill, it's all paperless. It's Sainsbury's too, who don't even send a reminder (Barclays CC send me an email reminder a week before payment date, so I don't even need to remember it). All they do is send me a letter if the payment is overdue, by which time it's too late. I'm going to take a leaf out of your book Trev and put it on my hard-copy calendar on the kitchen wall. I can't believe I can't trust my own phone reminders though - what's the point in being able to set reminders if even your phone forgets!
 
escargot said:
What's the strange bit here? Apart from smoking at the dentist's.
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Yes, I'm not entirely sure. Round here nobody dresses up for the dentist - wearing a tracksuit would be entirely normal, and whilst they'd usually put their fag out and hide the can, it's still not unheard of!
 
Well, feeling a bit of an idiot, as I'd somehow managed to forget there's a cupboard space tucked into the eaves of the low sloping roof, under the window of an upper room, right where the scratching was coming from. Talked to the household member, and they confirmed activity had been found there. Starting to look very much like the prior sound was the rat, if it is a rat, knocking something over in there. Traps will be set, and we'll see what we get.

Whimsical coincidence addendum. Joke about Gef in the last post, have a pretty close encounter with my first ever stoat when walking Tigger today. Mustelids agogo.

Also, on the subject of slugs, I've seen with my own eyes just how paper-thin a gap they can squeeze through. Extremely malleable bodies.
 
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