My post-lockdown commute back to work

[OhOh]

rotten cod fermented in sulphuric acid, stinking and jelly like, yet still I ate it.

She knew copious amounts of red wine would be required to cleanse your palates. You were just being polite, matching her consumption, being an English gentleman.

It turns out that she's previously had a Norwegian husband

Who, if asked, would advise any man, to give her a wide berth.

A girl in your room, the plot thickens...

No indication whether she's still under the duvet!

Do French girls snore or squeak?

[OhOh]

I thought after uploading my CoE application to the London Thai Embassy website this morning

I believe the request has to be authorised by the Bangkok ministry.

There appears to be a Thai web site available for all nationals to apply national at:

ระบบลงทะเบียนคนไทยที่จะเดินทางกลับเข้าประเทศ

I only explored the 4 pages it looks professional. The first page offers Thai or Foreign language. The Foreign language page offers Chinese or English.

[Saint Willy]

No indication whether she's still under the duvet!

Do French girls snore?

Given that Mendip has now been MIA for 16 hours +


.....

[OhOh]

Given that Mendip has now been MIA for 16 hours

Her ex husband's body has not been found after 3 years. Luckily they both had wills in place.

She cooked up lutefisk tonight. Yep, she picked it up at the market (a few pics up).

"Lutefisk is dried whitefish It is made from aged stockfish (air-dried whitefish), or dried and salted cod, pickled in lye


Lye

Lyes may be harmful or even fatal if swallowed; ingestion can cause esophageal stricture. A notable example of this is the poisoning of teacher Barbara Lewis"

Lye - Wikipedia

Utilised by Russian intelligence operatives to disappear problem citizens. Superseded by alleged 100% fatal chemicals, which were found equally ineffective in recent usage.



Mendip, having offshore safety training, always has personal "Hazmat travel bag" at hand.

[Neverna]

But the good news is... I put my my CoE application in today.

Should hear the good news about my application being accepted within three working days... then book PCR test... flights... ASQ...

It's happening now! All I have to do is get this work finished and get back to the UK next month. And stay Covid free of course.

Mendip, luckily for you, North Somerset and Bristol will drop down to Tier 2 as of tomorrow (Saturday).

[helge]

And Sweden goes 4 persons max

[PAG]

Given that Mendip has now been MIA for 16 hours +


.....

.....and he only went out for some new socks.......

[Mendip]

I see there's been plenty of conjecture in my absence...

A girl in your room, the plot thickens...

A girl in the shared kitchen in this shitty student accommodation I share.

A Brit criticising French cuisine . . .

In this case justified I feel... have you ever eaten jellied cod that's been cured in sulpuric acid?

OK, so not exactly French cuisine but Scandinavian 'cuisine' cooked by a French person.

.... the hat does have a point. British cuisine is, famously, the worst in the world. The Gallic Gal probably took this as a challenge.

You're going to have to return the favour, Mendip.

Poison her back, Sir. Our national pride demands it.

It was my turn to cook last night and I feel she did rather better out of the deal than I.

A pizza with anchovies for her... she does love her fish.



But a proper pizza with beef for me...

"It'll make a turd!"
So I guess you, at least, will get that outcome.

I did indeed! Sooner than expected as well.

Those orange things are rutabaga (aka swede) and the fuk knows thing is prolly a turnip.
The only thing Swedish christmas on that plate is the lutfisk which is something most Norses and Swedes are lyric about. I ain't..

I've since been led to believe it was a 'Jerusalem Artichoke' whatever that may be. I know one thing... something got my bowels moving. This is why I stick with peas and carrots.

Given that Mendip has now been MIA for 16 hours +
.....

Well... there is a reason. I've been extremely busy for the past couple of days...

I've booked a flight to Bangkok while trying to sychronise the flight with available PCR tests in Bristol. And I've booked my ASQ... so all that's needed now is to upload that stuff onto the Thai Embassy website and I'm good to go!

... apart from the RT-PCR test and Fit to Fly certificate which, after paying 149 quid has already gone south. But I've got six weeks or so to sort that out.

But... in the spare time I've had while sorting all that out I've been doing work... which is why I'm here. And my project has gone bad.

As this is a work thread I'm gonna indulge myself now...

Many people aren't aware that a coordinate is only any use if you know how it was derived. The transformation method used to represent a position from the curved earth to a flat surface is all important and varies from area to area. Anyone who sails will be familiar with WGS84 but the data we collect in WGS84 has to be transformed into UTM coordinates for engineering, display on charts etc.

Well, in my project the correct UTM zone was used for all data apart from the geological part of the project, where it was wrong. In short, the position of the geological interpretation doesn't match the position of the seabed, there is a large mis-match which has only come to light at a late stage in the project. This will take an awful lot of work and redos to sort out. Which has pissed me off immensely as I was hoping to wind down a bit over Christmas. Bladdy surveyors.

But anyway, I had a eureka moment in the night and came in very early this morning as I thought I'd solved an issue... I haven't, but I did see these guys on the way in.



I guess they'll be roe or fallow deer, but I sent a pic to my daughter and as far as she's concerned Papa has just seen Rudolph the Reindeer!



And off they went, taking their bushy tails with them!

[Edmond]

^ Mohammed could be aroused by that last pic.

[Mendip]

Mendip, luckily for you, North Somerset and Bristol will drop down to Tier 2 as of tomorrow (Saturday).

Yeah, as you say North Somerset and Bristol are going down to Tier 2 this weekend.

I'm not sure how much difference it'll make to me as I'll have to self-isolate for 14 days anyway, and I'll only be in the UK for three weeks or so...

Also... Wales just across the water is going into lockdown again immediately following Christmas. Covid is out of control in Wales and hospital beds are full. They're also very worried about it spreading to the animal population of course. Baaaaa...

Covid is rising across the UK, the R value is between 1.1 and 1.2 and by the time I get back there mid-January another nationwide lockdown seems inevitable. And yet they are still relaxing the rules over Christmas.

Boris Johnson has said he has no plans for another lockdown in January, which makes it a certainty, but so long as I can still get to a Covid test and get to the airport it shouldn't make too much difference. I'll be watching developments carefully because if there is to be another lockdown my mum will have to first bulk buy strong English Cheddar for me to take back to Korat. Not to mention cider for my self-isolation!

[TheMadBaron]

I guess they'll be roe or fallow deer, but I sent a pic to my daughter and as far as she's concerned Papa has just seen Rudolph the Reindeer!

That's Donner and Blitzen. Rudolph has a red nose. This was previously believed to be due to “nasal mucosa induced by the exertion of pulling a heavy load: excessive stresses endured whilst flying with San[at]ta and the sleigh in tow resulted in cerebral and bodily hyperthermia, overworking the nasal cooling system, causing the nose to glow” - but it's now believed to be due to selective breeding.

[helge]

Sunny here today, Mendip

[Mendip]

^ It was here for about six minutes.

I have to pop into town for some last minute shopping at the British shop later. It'll be good to get some decent food for Christmas Day!

I was going to walk, but due to the weather Alexey has promised to take me on the tram. This will be my fist ever tram trip and the last achievement to cross of my bucket list for the year!

[Joe 90]

Nice deer shots Mendip!

[Looper]

Given that Mendip has now been MIA for 16 hours +

A girl in the shared kitchen in this shitty student accommodation I share.

Well... there is a reason. I've been extremely busy for the past couple of days...

I've booked a flight to Bangkok while trying to sychronise the flight with available PCR tests in Bristol. And I've booked my ASQ...

Ooh la la... Monsieur Mendip, TeakDoor believes you bien sur....!

A pizza with anchovies for her... she does love her fish.

I would take Francoise' salty anchovies over your beef if I had to choose between those 2 pizzas

[barrylad66]

Yeah, as you say North Somerset and Bristol are going down to Tier 2 this weekend.

I'm not sure how much difference it'll make to me as I'll have to self-isolate for 14 days anyway, and I'll only be in the UK for three weeks or so...

Also... Wales just across the water is going into lockdown again immediately following Christmas. Covid is out of control in Wales and hospital beds are full. They're also very worried about it spreading to the animal population of course. Baaaaa...

Covid is rising across the UK, the R value is between 1.1 and 1.2 and by the time I get back there mid-January another nationwide lockdown seems inevitable. And yet they are still relaxing the rules over Christmas.

Boris Johnson has said he has no plans for another lockdown in January, which makes it a certainty, but so long as I can still get to a Covid test and get to the airport it shouldn't make too much difference. I'll be watching developments carefully because if there is to be another lockdown my mum will have to first bulk buy strong English Cheddar for me to take back to Korat. Not to mention cider for my self-isolation!

check out the bbc website mendip. just been a new briefing as its all gone pear shaped again with the new covid variant.

[Mendip]

^^ Strange indeed... salty fish over beef? To be honest I've long since wondering about other's strange food choices.

And I thought Mona Lisa was an Eyetie, not a frog?


Anyway, today my work problem was solved by the clever people and the only consequence to me is having to redo a couple of days work. I'm paid by the day, so there you go. While things were getting sorted out there was nothing for me to do other than upload my flight and ASQ booking to the Thai Embassy website for my CoE approval, and then go for some Christmas shopping.

Today I went on a tram!

I absolutely hate stuff like this... I have no problem flying to West Africa to some shit hole country and getting a taxi to some shit hole hotel, but getting on public transport in Europe and I break out in a cold sweat. I just have no idea what to do.

Alexey my Russian colleague was also going shopping so I tagged along. He lives in Moscow and seemed pretty good at this kind of stuff.

This one looked promising but it was going the wrong way.



And then...



This was the one. You don't have to stick your arm out or anything, the fukkers just stop.



No-one uses cash in Sweden, everything's done with apps. I don't have the 'Tram' app, so I'd given Alexey 40 krona (or Kronor as Lom likes to call 'em) so he could just sort everything out. All I had to do was tag along like a child, which suited me fine.

This is what the inside of a tram looks like. Not so different from a bus to be honest. By this point I was starting to get memories from my Bangkok train trip with me daughter, which seems like a world ago. That was six months ago!



I noticed this sign, which I presume means something like 'Have you got a ticket?' Is 'mycket' ticket? It rhymes at least. I don't know why they have to change just some letters to make things difficult.



This got me thinking. Alexey had just got on the tram the same as me. I didn't see him do anything with his phone. I reckon he'd just pocketed my 40 kronor and thought what a twat I was. I didn't want to say anything cos I had no idea where to get off this tram, but my mistrust of Russians was increasing.

Anyway, a few sights along the way...

The Red Lion...



That dry fountain I saw a few weeks ago...



And a 7-Eleven, Swedish style. Instead of a pack of motorbikes parked outside, a pack of electric scooters!

I must admit I find 7-Elevens strangely comforting after so long in Thailand.



And then after 20 minutes we reached our destination.

There's Alexey fukking off with my 40 kronor in his pocket. It won't get you much here mate!



All in all I would say that while I'm glad I have done it, I won't be rushing to do it again. Riding on a tram is now ticked off my list and that's it.

And there it disappears around the corner. Good riddance I say.

[helge]

Does it say Dricker du for mycket ?

'Drinking you too much ?

Mycket doesn't mean ticket

Drinking too much, Mendip ?

[TheMadBaron]

Is 'mycket' ticket? It rhymes at least. I don't know why they have to change just some letters to make things difficult.

Google translate is getting pretty good now, if you don't ask it to translate a Thai tabloid page.

mycket = very

"Drucker du för mycket?" = "Do you drink too much?"

Straight up.

Drucker.du..för...mycket?
Drink....you.too.much?

EDIT:

Drinking you too much ?

Damn, I was five minutes too late!

[Mendip]

We went our separate ways and my first destination was The British Shop to get some provisions for Christmas.

And for all the naysayers... Panama Hat, Bsnub, etal, this is how good British cuisine is... a cosmopolitan city in the heart of Europe and a queue to get some decent British fare!



The girl who runs this place is a Scot, and I can't help thinking the picture she displayed of our lovely Queen wasn't exactly respectful.



I finished me shopping in about 3 minutes. No proper British sausages, no steak and kidney pies, no pork pies, no steamed puddings, no nothing. Everything was sold out. Lom, if ever you return there is definitely a business opportunity here supplying decent food to Brits. This will be the first Christmas in living memory I won't be having at least a pork pie.

I was well disappointed to be honest. But I decided to have a walk about to see the Christmas sights. I'll say one thing about the Swedes, they may be a bit strange but they have some pretty women and they know how to put up Christmas decorations!



Gothenburg is tram city... one after a bladdy nother. It's hard to take a pic without a b@stard tram in it. They're everywhere...



I guess it would be quite romantic to walk around Christmas Gothenburg in different circumstances. I couldn't help thinking how much Dan and Coco would have enjoyed this.







Just look at the fukkin trams...









I popped inside here but not a mask in sight. I know that UK Covid rates are looking awful, but the Swedes seem to be inviting disaster.

And the violin playing Santa woman was pretty awful as well. She wouldn't have got my money even if Alexey hadn't got there first.

[Mendip]

^^, ^^^

This is my problem with languages. Wouldn't it make more sense if mycket meant ticket?

And wouldn't it make more sense to have a sign on one of these b@stard tram walls saying 'Have you got a ticket?' instead of 'Do you drink too much?'.

FFS...

[helge]

Just curious and maybe I'm stereotyping

Do you wear a Bowler, when you're doing your shopping ?

[helge]

And wouldn't it make more sense to have a sign on one of these b@stard tram walls saying 'Have you got a ticket?' instead of 'Do you drink too much?'.

Yes, in most of the world, but not in Sweden

They, together with the Finns drink way more than they buy tickets.

And they stab people with knives too



(from Nice Helge's schooling many years ago)

[David48atTD]

Is that clock saying 4.05?

Really dark!

I'm surprised with your dislike of Public Transport.

I LOVE TRAMS / TRAINS .. even in a foreign language you know exactly where they are going.


Instead of moaning about the lack of 'English food' that place is a magnet for English speaking woman ... go get them!

Instead of moaning about your working conditions, thank fuck you actually have a job, unlike millions of others, me included who have been laid off because of the covid-19 debacle.

"Permission to speak freely", given earlier is used now

Reality check over ... please carry on with your potential 'Thread of the Year' and make me jealous of your exciting adventures.


OH, re your dogs ... absolutely, one sniff when you arrive back in the Kingdom and every one of your canine companions will remember your scent and tails will be wagging, ears dropped and eyes wide open.

Wife? Looking for blond hairs on your cloths

[Chico]

Nah sounds a deerstalker type of guy.

great Thread buddy.......