Very OT

OK Bev!

\mischeivous mode off\

Sorry, couldn't resist it! :-)

Ok, Rich, you get away with that just once, you know! ;-)

Beverly

Not nearly enough, apparently. 'Course it helps that there is +/-4,926 miles separating us, so 'Rick' will be safe enough for now....

Beverly

Richard... Just *HOW* much do you value your head?

(Wanders off whistling innocently... )

I was always worried by the safety of the line workers in those woods. A lot more trees fell in the years folowing, loosened and weakened by the storm.

But they proved their use in those months!

There were 43 fully grown sycamores, horse chestnts, beeches, and the occasional oak down across the road between our house and the edge of town. There were a similar number down Bell Road alone once you got into town. The ambulances and the fire engines could get only 20 or so yards in any direction from their respective doors... For us, tree clearance was a bigger priority than electricity.

Are you deaf? I sincerely hope not. That kind of hours of helicoptering can seriously affect hearing.

Nay, nay and thrice nay (Lurkio!) Heavy duty head sets worn at all times. My dearly beloved also worked in the ESI, and it was the only jolly she ever had, a day's flying as well!

Thing that struck me the most, I knew *all* the little byeways, green lanes, farm tracks etc where I used to work, but a journey of 1.5 - 2 hours by car keeping out of the way of traffic was done in a matter of minutes. There were lots of places that I could recognise from the air, but others (where one couldn't easily get by car) that were completely foreign to me.

I could go on reminiscing but this thread is waaay OT as it is! :-)

Phew! I'd hate you to have suffered like that in the line of duty.

But the English countryside (especially round here) is a patchwork quilt of crops, pature, woodland, hop gardens (yes, there are still a few of those!) and orchards...

Inspiration, if you like, rather than too OT. :)

I sew backpacking equipment.

I saw nothing here that deals with that.

I see no reason to have to discuss sewing in an OT labeled message.

So long for now.

That would be an interesting addition to alt.sewing discussions.

So, start a new thread.

And yet you joined a thread clearly labeled O[ff] T[opic], without reading enough of the thread to intuit the context.

Bye...

Beverly

Pamela, you've also been referred to as "bicycleguy" by some and you say you sew backpacking equipment. Makes no diff your gender, of course. I do bags also.

I've been asked to make some vintage-style handlebar bags and panniers like the old British Karrimors or Gilles Berthoud bags. I've been unable to find a source for the flat J-hooks that accept the quick-release thin elastic cords to secure the flaps instead of the newer side-release plastics or velcro. I could make them, but I'd rather they be better finished than I can produce.

In case you work with them for your bicycle bags/backpacks, do you have a source to pass along?

Thanks, JPBill (Just Plain Bill) in Wisconsin

Well I think we'll just have to disagree about whether we think it's blunt or rude because I didn't think it was either of those things - just clear plain speakign that made a lot of sense to me. Of course that could just be national differences but then I'm Australian and we do have a reputation for saying what we mean in unambiguous terms (ie blunt and no window dressing).

In fact I found Pamela's message very helpful as it made me think. Not about elecricity because I too can cope with that easily (and sew too if I choose to do so) but it's coming up to fire season and I need to get off my tail and do more fire preps round here. Too late to do any prep by the time I see palls of smoke.

From Jannd - makers of bicycle and backpacking and more stuff ....

the link doesn't work, go to and look for replacement parts in bicycle goods. There are two pages of hardware and what you want is on the second page. Many of the expensive bicycle pannnier manufacturers sell replacement parts which you might be able to use. Bell may not be in this helpful manufacturer grouping, for example.

Well, finally there is somebody who isn't just griping about the limitations of what a utility company did, at substantial effort, to assist in customer recovery from a disaster.

Kudos to you.

Hope that you get well prepared, and , thankfully, never have to resort to using your emergency preparations. There have been some awesome fires down under in the last few years.

If I have helped at all, it is worth enduring all of this "Catty" criticism of the limits of what a company, or individual, does to help people who may be in deep trouble or concern.

> >

Pamela: Thanks much; just what I was looking for. JPBill

Pamela, Juno wasn't "griping" -- she was just pointing out the irony. It reminds me of a billboard I once saw. It was red and white striped (horizontally) with a big gold eagle on it, and in gothic lettering it pronounced: "Free Enterprise Makes America Great" and at the bottom, in very small block letters it read "Florida Power & Light Company." Another example of irony, that a monopoly expounded the virtues of a free economy, with all the patriotic symbols. It's humor. It's just funny. It's like the braille on the drive-up ATM machine.

And I'll bet 5,000 quataloos she still won't "get it". I don't think "irony" exists where Pamela lives.

Beverly

Well as others pointed out, it doesn't really help the customer who is stuck there with no power Unless onehas agenerator), but I can see that it might help family or friends worried about getting in contact with someone who might be in an area of long term power outage.

Yep, but we're not unique there.

i think that the nature of usenet and far worse things can happen in life than a few strong words in a virtual space. No-one is bleeding real blood and that's the main thing. :-))

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For less than $100, you can have enough limited power to use the internet, even DSL, if you plan for it.

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Brains are good, if you use them.

MEOW

You have a very graceful arched back.