^ Good luck Shutree!
I wish I'd kept me mouth shut... I'll be well pissed off when my wife wins with her number 16 and we have to share the winnings with you and Lom. (that's assuming the wife even tells me. of course).
Yes Lom... well at least another three weeks anyway. I should end up with around 100 days when this gets finished up, which has turned this year around completely. I have to remember that much as I miss my little girl and the dogs, I'd be in a much worse position if I was still back in Isaan dressing up Dan and Coco in the wife's underwear.
In fact they these guys picked up more work in Norway... I can't go offshore as I'm still doing this in the office, but that work may come my way eventually for reporting. It'd be great if I can keep going through November... sanity allowing.
I may end up hanging me hat with these guys for a while. These contractors are very keen to break into the Norwegian market... and they need experience. Also, the Swedes have a very different attitude to Covid than Norway which makes it a lot easier for me... Norwegian contractors are trying to use local labour to avoid quarantine complications. There's other 'industry' reasons as well, all of which are conspiring to make Norwegian work hard to come by for me just now...
And much as I hate to admit it... I quite like Sweden and the Swedes!
But anyway, if I do stay a while longer I'm hoping not to get another bread roll like this one...
This is what I found when making my lunch this morning... never seen a hole that size before.
[QUOTE=Shutree;4173165]
The two-tone Datejust is a classic.
/QUOTE]
Seeing that photo reminded me to check my desk drawer for mine. Bought it in 1986 so I guess bordering on the 'vintage' category now. Probably a year or so since I've worn it, but the beauty is it only ever needs a few shakes and adjusting the time/date and away she goes. Never been serviced, probably gains a minute every few days, which its always done.
^^ Very nice!
This one I've just got hold of is 1975, and in very good condition.
If it lasts as long as my Airking then it should be the last watch I'll need!
The Airking Date is apparently similar age (I thought it was early 80s). I bought it second hand in 1993 and it's now worth a lot more than I paid for it, so not really an extravagance. The Airking is still good and I'm going to try and get a leather strap for it this weekend. One day I'd like to pass it on to my daughter... it's small enough to be a lady's watch.
Mendip that Datejust looks ok but I'd be getting a photo sent of it side-on to check the bracket stretch like this:
That's an Oyster bracket that's been well and truly abused for a lot of years, many hundreds of rounds of golf and uncountable thousands of balls hit at driving ranges wearing it just for starters. I'd rate the stretch as medium-bad for a watch of that age. The watch you're looking at has a Jubilee bracelet which are nowhere near as rugged and cost about the same to replace. Id be looking at how much sag is in it when held at the same angle before pulling the trigger, if it's drooping badly you might like to think twice or know that a replacement band could be in its future.
HW, my Airking hasn't kept good time for years... I think towards the end it was gaining around a minute a week. I noticed that it gained more time at home in Isaan than when working in the cold of Norway. I had idly thought about logging the time gained and making a graph... but of course never bothered.
I once had it serviced at the place on Wireless Road a few years ago and seem to remember it wasn't cheap at all... and after that service was when the time started gaining. At this place in the UK where I've just got my DateJust from, the main man will wear a watch for a few days and make adjustments if necessary to improve the time keeping, but these watches will run slightly differently depending on the wearer.
Yeah... I 'pulled the trigger'... a bit impetuous maybe but I wanted a treat! I trust my mate and the jeweler to have made the necessary tests.
I think the stretch on my Airking bracelet beats your 'medium-bad'!
I certainly haven't mollycoddled the watch and rarely took it off... only if I remembered to during building projects and the like. I guess my 27 years and whatever went before have taken their toll. I hope to look after the DateJust a bit better.
The Airking's strap finally broke during one of my walks around the Havila Subsea helideck back in August... a link broke and the watch hit the deck. Lucky I wasn't swinging my arms too much as we were working in 300m of water back then!
After your post I had a good look at the bracelet, and there are several links almost worn through. But I guess it's had a hard 50 plus years of wear. I think it dates back to the mid 70s.
^Yeah that's pretty much as bad as stretch can possibly get
One of the reasons NATO straps are so popular with guys who spend time in places with their watches in places where if the band breaks they'll never see it again is there's no links to break, and if one spring-bar breaks the watch head will still be attached to their wrist by the other. Who knows how many guys working offshore or being out there recreationally (fishing, surfing, yachting, etc) have had an aww fuck! moment when their watch bracelet broke
I've had mine serviced once a decade, regular as, erm, clockwork. Which means it is due again soon. Last time the service cost nearly double the original purchase price. When I last looked, the same model in top condition (which mine isn't) with box and paperwork were being offered at about 100 times the original purchase price, before adjusting for inflation.
Each time it goes into the Rolex workshop they reset the timing or whatever the correct term is. Every time I get it back I have to get used to it running faster or slower than before. I don't mind that, it just has more character than my perfectly adjusted Seiko.
Well I didn't find any lottery tickets ending 16 and the winning final pair was .... 38.
In regard to my fellow Rolex bro's a good friend of mine from the UK has a reliable watchmaker in LOS. He is not a poster on TD but someone I know from another watch forum.
^ None of that kind of talk on this thread, thank you!
The view out of my office window this morning... a proper frost.
I'm finishing early and heading in to town this afternoon to have a look around try and get a new watch strap sorted.
I've just added a jumper to my shopping list... quite a difference since I came over nearly three months ago to the midnight sun.
^ I finally managed a trip in to central Gothenburg yesterday but didn't get a watch strap or a jumper... but I did get a pint of draught cider!
Yep, I got pissed off with the work yesterday so took an afternoon off...
I walked in to town with my Norwegian mate... I needed a translator.
We passed under the big bridge... imagine living in that white house on the other side... they must have been well pissed off when the bridge was built and blocked out the evening sun.
Gothenburg used have a thriving ship building industry and now a lot of the cranes and gantries have been left as a monument to the past.
Near the ferry terminals there is this tower with a lady looking out to sea... many docks have similar, showing a woman looking out for her man lost at sea,
Apparently this is called 'The Sailor's Tower' and commemorates sailors who died during World War 1. My mate wanted to go up to the top... but it's 49m high and I bladdy hate hate heights, so bollox to that.
A photo of the 'Kvinna vid havet' (Women by the Sea) was enough for me.
And by the ferry terminal is The Seaman's Mission. These places are usually good for a cheap beer... but HTF do you get up there? It's up the top of a cliff. So on we went.
The lorries queuing up for the ferry to Germany, with my weird Norwegian mate in his hat.
About 10 seconds after taking this pic I nearly got taken out by the cyclist. I'd foolishly stepped on to the cycle lane for a better angle and they take no prisoners. Another bike came from behind and I froze like a rabbit...
You've gotta laugh!
On the outskirts of the city we started to see some nice buildings.
A museum of some sort I think...
And whatever is this place?
Gothic architecture at its best!
And some more cranes from the old ship building days...
They almost look a bit prehistoric...
And another piece of history... to commemorate Swedes settling in America and buying land from the native Americans...
And a juvenile magpie. There's actually two birds in this pic... any ornithologists...?
And a few pics of what I guess would be called Gothic architecture?
Some nice buildings, whatever they're called!
It's not easy to get a good pic with all the bladdy busses and trams zipping around. The trams are lethal and I really don't like them.
But... 'Peas of Heaven'
And some more...
A beautiful old bridge...
An old alley...
But let's face it, these old buildings get boring after a while. Right opposite that alley was...
This looked promising!
But surely there should be an apostrophe in there? Where's Cyrille when you need him?
'
A proper pub! We were greeted by a very cheerful landlord who seemed happy to see us... the place was empty. Maybe a Sunday afternoon session isn't a Swedish custom?
And what a selection! What I'd give to have a pub like this in Korat... with a few girls of course!
To the left... (port)
And to the right... (starboard)
But only one choice for me... a shame it was Irish but my first pint of draught cider since The Robin Hood on Sukhumvit on July 25th... a few hours before I started on this ridiculous work commute...
We soon found out why the landlord was so happy to see us... 26 quid for three drinks! (another guy had joined us)
The first item on the menu was 'Fish Roe', and not a steak and kidney pie in sight... in fact no pies at all. We decided to eat elsewhere... so another walk...
A famous church I believe.
A concertina bus... in three parts. I've never seen that before.
We found a place to eat a sit down burger...
I noticed this at the doorway of the burger place... it looked like something had twatted the dressed stone surrounding the door frame.
The burger was fancy but unremarkable... and another 30 quid with a drink.
The beer was served in this kind of pewter mug... I was getting worried that the food would come on a piece of wood or a floor tile, or whatever else they think up. But thankfully it was a normal plate.
So, my day out all finished.
The famous church in the evening... I took this pic just before another b@stard tram spoiled the view.
And a final arty pic of Gothenburg, or 'Göteborg' as they like to call it here.
It was nice to have a glass of Gato Negro in my student digs after the afternoon out.
And to admire the new addition to my rock collection... a nice piece of Swedish red sandstone... and a fine miniature example of Gothic architecture to boot!
Last edited by Mendip; 19-10-2020 at 11:21 PM.
Nice to see you soaking up the local culture.
Peas of Heaven, priceless
It only took you a month to get in there, it looks a,azimg
Would have to start with the two IPAs, before moving onto the Staropramen, and then starting on the draught Erdinger Weizen, before pocketing the Erdinger glass.
The Lagunitas IPA is from my home area Marin county Ca. Do give it a try if you go back Mendip. For me its a first off the plane tipple.
Sorry Mendip but The Bishops Arms is only an expensive tourist trap, there are two more of them in Gothenburg and forty all over Sweden.
They all look the same, if you've been in one of them then you've been in all of them.
The one you visited is not there because a lot of people go pubing in that part of town, it is there because of the hotel there which is owned by the same chain.
There is one (without hotel) opposite the watch shop I recommended at Linnegatan (which is the dine and drink street of Gothenburg).
I do suspect though that Red Lion in Majorna has a much more folksly atmosphere than this sterile chain pub.
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