StevieM

On a related subject... I spotted this one earlier but didn't get around to posting it. Rare black fox spotted in London garden

I bow to your greater knowledge. Please forgive my doubtingness!

That looks like a PhotoShop...and a poor attempt at that. The arrow on the English side is a completely different shape to all the others (flat-based head) and you can still see the original arrow pointing in the same direction as the Welsh side. EDIT: Also, all the other arrows pointing right are on the right hand side of the sign.

......

Race..

Do you live on Tatooine?! Seriously, though, nice pics. Amazing colours.

I'm sure you will. Surely your situation can be considered as a combination of all three of those. Your son is in your bubble, you are unable to return to your main residence (at least safely!), and you are helping your son move house.

Dot ...

I have every edition of the Nutty comic, from issue 1 right through to the first issue that it was incorporated into The Dandy. I wonder if they’ll be worth anything?

Usually, I'm just beclometasone twice daily with salbutamol when required. However, this time last year, I'd been prescribed 3 courses of steroids in 3 weeks - the third was accompanied by a course of antibiotics. Does that put me in group 6, then?

OK. NOW it’s snowing...and blowing a gale! I’ve just got in from the shops. The living room heater is on full. I’m going to put on my Chewbacca onesie and not move for the rest of the day!

C-19PO: The chances of surviving a global pandemic are 23,345... Hancock Solo: Never tell me the odds!

^^This!^^ There are two rules that need to be applied rigorously to lateral flow tests. If the test result comes back positive, always assume it's right - even if you don't have any symptoms. More importantly: If the test result comes back negative, always assume it's wrong!

Temperature of -23C in Braemar is UK's lowest in 25 years I remember it being -17C in Crosby, back in 2010. It was so cold, I had icicles forming on my beard! (I'll see if I can find a photo.)

Yup. Similar picture here. Sheltered spots still look someone's been playing with polystyrene, but nothing other than short, light showers. It's actually been really good drying weather - breezy, lots of sunshine, low humidity. I've had a few loads of washing out this week and they've been dry by the time I've finished working. It's also been really good walking weather, but I've not been able to get out until close to sunset. What's more, you can almost guarantee it will break by the weekend and be rubbish over half-term.

It appears that she is looking for responses whether people have seen terrapins or not - unless she just disregards submissions where terrapins haven't been spotted. I've submitted to say I haven't, anyway. If you know otherwise, @elsiegee40, please correct me.

We had a brief shower yesterday morning, which left a light dusting for half an hour or so. There was another light flurry yesterday evening, which froze on top of cars overnight. Nothing more than that, though. That said, we were a couple of weeks behind the rest of the country, back in 2018...

D'oh! Only just seen this. An excuse to sit and do nothing for an hour is always welcome.

Our LA is offering us a new SLA with Abzorb as the ISP. We're being offered either a 100/100 or 200/1000 leased lines with a 4G failover connection, a managed on-site firewall (type as yet unspecified), and Cisco Umbrella cloud-based content filtering. Does anyone have any experience with Abzorb who can offer feedback? TIA

What's the spec on them? I thought Toshiba had stopped making laptops.

Hahaha! Actually, we were just emerging from Roughley's Wood, part of Sefton Meadows, which leads into Lunt Meadows, so were outside the gated 'Dogs must be on a lead' area. Well spotted, though!

Even by your standards, @mikeprice...

Not too much rain??!! Seriously??!!! I agree with the lots of frosts and occasional (very poor attempts at) snow, but we've had loads of torrential rain in Liverpool. Other places around the country have had it far worse than us. This photo, taken at Lunt Meadows a couple of weeks ago, shows the extent of the 'snow' near here. (Bonus points if you find Ciara the Patterdale hidden in this picture.)

Had a callback, on Friday, from @StoneGroup_JackW who confirmed that the funding is still available. I've also discovered that the Teams Admin Center [sic] now has two Policy Wizards specifically for education - Primary/Secondary & Higher Education. I'd still be happier with some extra experienced assistance, though.

I watched a couple of films on MUBI last week: Once Upon a Time in America - Sergio Leone's final film follows a career criminal (Robert De Niro, mostly) from his childhood beginnings through to his return from retirement. I really enjoyed this and it certainly felt shorter than the almost 3hr run-time. Dating from 1984, it was strange seeing De Niro made up with prosthetics to age him, yet still make him look younger than he does now in real life. The Straight Story - Based on the true story of an elderly man who, after his estranged brother suffered a stroke, decided it was time to make amends. Being unable to drive a car, he made the long journey from Iowa to Winsconsin...on a lawnmower! Directed by David Lynch (Twin Peaks) and released by Disney (eh?!), it had it's moments but some of the exaggerated characters annoyed me, particularly Sissy Spacek's role as the autistic daughter. That said the almost wordless ending, featuring an astonishing performance from Harry Dean Stanton, was cinematic perfection.