WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Big Kev]

Despite the repair to the broken drain I have water in the cellar again, I suspect a rise in the water table. It's only in one corner which is also a low spot, the plan is to dig a sump and drop a submersible pump in. I did look at digging a gulley to the cellar drain but the levels are too far out to be practical.

I don't understand something here. Why doesn't water come up the central drain if you are below the water table? How much lower is your low spot?

I don't understand it either, I'm only going on what UU said after they repaired the drains and all the dye tests were negative. The low spot is only an inch above the top of the entry to the drain but I'd need to dig a 12ft long gulley to get the water to it, hence the sump...

[plaques]

As I understand it is when they dug the cellars out the drain in the cellar fell into the main outside street drain which was set at a very low level. The water table that the cellar was built into may come half way up the walls which hopefully could resist water ingress. The same applied to the floors. But has you say Kev if the table rises the pressure may increase to a point where it seeps through. And the answer is.... Don't Know.

[Tizer]

They're having bad weather on the Continent too and in The Netherlands they've had to close all their storm surge barriers for the first time. Here's an old web page that shows lots of pics and gives details of the barriers: LINK

[On that same web site I chanced upon this page: Bolton Strid: `A Stream That Swallows People' LINK ]

[Big Kev]

As I understand it is when they dug the cellars out the drain in the cellar fell into the main outside street drain which was set at a very low level. The water table that the cellar was built into may come half way up the walls which hopefully could resist water ingress. The same applied to the floors. But has you say Kev if the table rises the pressure may increase to a point where it seeps through. And the answer is.... Don't Know.

That makes sense. The cellar has been tanked but only 2ft above the floor level (which is about a foot lower than original level). I did raise the level in one area but it has worked its way round the wall again, as this is the lowest spot I reckon the sump is the way to go. I could be chasing the ingress for ever

[Tizer]

Fans of A.G. Barr's Irn Bru drink are protesting on social media because the company is going to lower the drink's sugar content. Judging from the protesters' image, drinking Irn Bru has a serious effect on your ability to use apostrophes!

[Big Kev]

I also heard they were no longer going to make it from girders

[chinatyke]

Funny how Aspartame was being withdrawn from food products because of the alleged side effects on certain people and now it is being put back in.

[Stanley]

Irn Brew is a religion in Scotland.....
One thing to note Kev is that the water table is very high at the moment, the ground is saturated. Standing water on the green yesterday and we have on the whole had a dry year.....
Trump moving ever deeper into the mire.....
Later..... Friday is the day when, by long habit, I buy my Barlick and Earby Times and the Radio Times. This week the RT has gone up to the ridiculous price of £2.80 a week. Enough is enough, I have broken that habit and that means I am £150 pounds a year better off. A decision that has been long overdue.
Another matter has arisen, my American Boots have served me well for 25 years and have had a lot of use. I've been aware for a while that the right boot was letting a bit of water in but in the wet weather of the last few days it has suddenly got worse. A quick inspection and it's the leather that has broken just above the welt, a terminal fault and not surprising considering the wear they have had. Always sad to see an old friend go but sometime very soon they are going into the bin. I have plenty of boots and it's silly to have wet feet!

[Tizer]

Funny how Aspartame was being withdrawn from food products because of the alleged side effects on certain people and now it is being put back in.

It's now often accompanied by other sweeteners too, as well as being used in sugary food and drink when they were developed to replace sugar. Stevia, based on a plant extract, is the next sweetener that we'll be seeing. It's 200 times sweeter than table sugar and is being touted as a business investment. Coke and Pepsi are two companies developing Stevia products.

...This week the Radio Times has gone up to the ridiculous price of £2.80 a week. Enough is enough, I have broken that habit and that means I am £150 pounds a year better off. A decision that has been long overdue.

Mrs Tiz takes out RT when it's on `special offer' then, when that runs out, cancels it until the next offer (which is never far behind).

[PanBiker]

Stanley wrote: ↑
Fri Jan 05, 2018 3:44 am
...This week the Radio Times has gone up to the ridiculous price of £2.80 a week. Enough is enough, I have broken that habit and that means I am £150 pounds a year better off. A decision that has been long overdue.

Mrs Tiz takes out RT when it's on `special offer' then, when that runs out, cancels it until the next offer (which is never far behind).

The Freesat EPG has everything you need to know about the programming schedules so I'm sure you will manage.

[Stanley]

You're right Ian, I shall manage. It was a habit that needed breaking!
I've almost finished grinding cutters. I am playing out with spiral grinding at the moment. I am going to have to spend money on castings!!
Mo visits me today, he wants help to make Jess' wedding ring for April.....

[Tizer]

Also, for Stanley the Radio 4 daily schedule is on the web here: Radio 4
and the World Service here: World Service
Each page shows 14 days in tabs across the top, so you can look at forthcoming days as well as today. Click on a programme and you get a detailed description and information about repeats etc.

[Stanley]

Thanks for that Tiz, bookmarked!
However, I am back on the site instead of being in bed to report one of the worst hours I have had for a while.
I got my credit card statement and found that someone was taking repeated payments out on it for gaming chips amounting to many hundreds of pounds. It took a long time to get through to the bank's fraud department but I managed it in the end. I had great problems understanding the Indian lady's accent but think I have got the gist. They evidently believed what I said about the card never going out of my possession and no record of it existing on line apart from my account with Amazon. The upshot, and I repeated it back to her to make sure I had it right is that 1. The card is cancelled and a new one will be sent to me. 2. I will be credited with all the fraudulent payments but will not have documentary evidence of this until my February statement.
I shall not be easy until I see this in writing. They are going to investigate and if they find anything untrue in what I have told them I will be held accountable. The lady questioned me closely about phishing mails etc and I think I convinced her that I was security conscious and deleted them.
I think I am OK but as I say I want to see it in writing! I sincerely hope this doesn't happen to any of you. God knows how they got hold of the card number but as the lady said, "They have their ways and means".
I don't need shocks like this.......

[Wendyf]

That's awful Stanley, a similar thing has happened to us and it makes you feel sick. The credit card companies have, in our experience, been fair and helpful.

[PanBiker]

Hard luck Stanley, I know the feeling, not scammed in my case but I lost all my cards at once to an Italian pick pocket gang. They violated me by spending around £2,000 in twenty minutes and relieving me of around 250 euros in cash. Wendy is right, the card companies are very efficient. I cancelled mine within 40 minutes, the robbers only keep them for direct purchases for about 20 minutes before dumping them. You do feel violated particularly when you have been robbed in person. It happened whilst in transit on holiday and I had all replacement cards waiting for me when I got home.

[Stanley]

Thanks for the sympathy kids..... You're right Wendy, complete panic set in, bowels loosened, you name it. It looks as though the bank has been efficient and accurate but I won't feel secure until I see the February statement. Completely knocked me off my afternoon sleep!
I'm still surprised that supposedly smart systems didn't pick up on the same payment going though every day for six days, still ongoing when they looked at it, one payment outstanding. Roll on an adjusted statement with the correct credits in place!!

[Wendyf]

It's been a while since it happened to us but on two separate occasions we had the money credited to our account straight away, and then got refunded once the fraud investigation was complete. Their mistake, we never noticed! Honest!

[Tizer]

Don't worry Stanley, it'll all be OK. The bank can sound like they don't trust you but that's just a necessary part of the checks, just like if you went to the police. It's getting to be `the normal' now to have your card fraudulently used and the banks have to refund you. When Mrs Tiz's card got used it was for many purchases online in Russian roubles. Frightening at the time but it all gets sorted. Have a whisky and join the club!

[Stanley]

"Join the club". Four of us out of a small group who have been scammed..... How much of this goes on? I'm recovering slightly but will not be 100% satisfied until I see the February statement!
I shall give myself an easy day today....... Shocks are not a good thing at my age.
Worst thing is that I feel violated.....

[Big Kev]

You're certainly not alone. A few years ago now and a debit card, rather than a credit card, but the money was back in the account within a few days. If you don't have the card account set up online give them a call near the end of the week to check the balance. It'll put your mind at rest sooner than February.

[Marilyn]

Stanley I note that you recently sent your daughter some flowers when she was unwell.
Could this be a link?
Could the florist have had transactions hacked?

[Pluggy]

Late to the party, but I have had spurious transactions on a debit card in the past. Its a long time ago, I bought some ink cartridges or something from a small supplier on-line. About a year afterwards the same account helped themselves to a couple of grand. When I contacted the bank they said, they'd had a spate of similar transactions from the same perp. I got the money back the same day I recall. I have't had a credit card in about 20 years now. Its possible thinking about it it, it was a credit card, its long enough ago and the memory is hazy.

[Tizer]

They evidently believed what I said about the card never going out of my possession and no record of it existing on line apart from my account with Amazon.

If you go into your Amazon account you can delete your card details after making a transaction. You buy books online from other companies too, probably with a card - always check that the payment page address has the https security, not simply http. But even with all those checks how do we know that the card companies don't have rogue employees? If they do get such internal frauds we'd probably never get told about it. And look at the Equifax hack - that's a company that stores our personal details on behalf of companies and should be like Fort Know but it recently lost many millions of customers' details in a hack.

[Stanley]

Good idea Kev.... I shall do that.
Maz, anything is possible , I simply don't know. I think Tiz is perhaps closer to the mark, a rogue insider selling card numbers. And yes, I knew about security and only let one company store my details.
Finishing 800 pages of Norman and being a lot wiser for it!
See THIS for a BBC report on the resignation of Carrie Gracie because the two senior women foreign news editors are paid 50% less than their male counterparts. Well done that woman! She's doing an interview on Woman's Hour this morning. I shall be listening......

[Stanley]

The fact that North Korea has agreed to send a delegation to the winter Olympics in S Korea. Only a small matter but the first sign of de-escalation in the current climate. All we have to do now is pray that Donald Trump doesn't put his oar in and upset the apple cart!
The fact that my stock pile at the BET is running low. I love being able to have a platform every week but of course they have to be written and I always feel happier if I have a buffer! I have to spend a couple of days writing..... Not as bad as it sounds because I have a list of titles lined up, all I have to do is get them on paper!
The burning taker off the coast of China. How can two big ships like this collide with plenty of sea Room? Any connection with the as yet unexplained collisions experienced by US navy ships? It has been suggested that GPS data is being altered in that area.
One good thing is that the BBC got it right this morning quoting 1,000,000 barrels and not tons!