Another lockdown… another commute

[armstrong]

Fuck this shit, I'm heading off to brush me teeth.



Really, really fucking well.

My jager and coke is suddenly not feeling like a great idea.

[David48atTD]

Hah ... the different tangents this thread takes.

Before SPAM, now oral hygiene ...

I've had 3 artificial teeth. Had 2 knocked out playing Footy, and one because my parents were poor and couldn't afford a root canal, so they pulled the tooth.

Plus some bone graft and a few crowns.

All replaced in Thailand ... great work and affordable.

---

What is crap are (eye) glasses. Low quality and expensive.

[Shutree]

What is crap are (eye) glasses. Low quality and expensive.

Very expensive here. IMHO

I would say my last pairs from an independent shop introduced to me by a local are good quality. She made it clear to him that she had taught him at school and they ought to be good!

Still very pricey though.

[cyrille]

What is crap are (eye) glasses. Low quality and expensive.

I completely disagree on both counts.

[nidhogg]

^you can get good glasses in Thailand, but you move into very expensive....

[Shutree]

^you can get good glasses in Thailand, but you move into very expensive....

I was into 20K plus per pair for bifocal without famous brand nameframes. That seems expensive to me, maybe less so to others. Certainly I bought cheaper in Shanghai.

[nidhogg]

I was into 20K plus per pair for bifocal without famous brand nameframes. That seems expensive to me, maybe less so to others. Certainly I bought cheaper in Shanghai.

I agee. Comparative cost is always difficult. I have dropped 40k for a pair for someone near and dear to me. My last trip to usa i got three good pairs for the price of one good one here.

[Mendip]

I usually stock up on glasses in the UK for about a third the price of Thailand.

The gardener gets his at the local barbers for about 50 Baht a pair but not only do they look really weird, it's completely random what prescription he gets. He just keeps trying different pairs out of the bucket until he can see a bit better.

Thinking about it, this may explain his tree pruning.

[armstrong]

How are you paying 20k for glasses?! I'm pretty blind and buy brand names with the screen coating, scratch resistant etc for 8k.

[OhOh]

Just bought a new pair and two new frames.

Varifocal lenses:

"Varifocal lenses allow you to see at any distance, because they have different sections for viewing close up and far away and everything in between. So whether you’re driving, using a computer, shopping or reading, you can wear one pair of varifocals to accommodate all your vision needs."

Allegedly Japanese.

Non "famous brand" frames. Comfortable being anonymous.

฿10k in total.

฿6k - 1 x new prescription lenses + ฿4k - 2 new frames.

(old lenses inserted into one of the new frames for garden usage).

3 day service

[Topper]

"Varifocal lenses allow you to see at any distance, because they have different sections for viewing close up and far away and everything in between. So whether you’re driving, using a computer, shopping or reading, you can wear one pair of varifocals to accommodate all your vision needs."

I just got something similar here, probably about 5-6K. In my case, they're tri focal, with a graduated grind on the lens from seeing stuff at a distance, to working on a computer to reading. To be honest, I've had a hard time getting adjusted to them.

[marcusb]

^ I have similar glasses. 22,000 in Thailand 6,500 in Canada. In Thailand I would buy the special coating etc and they still seemed to get little scratches too easily.

The top Chareon gals were much prettier than the staff here though...

[Looper]

Somewhere around 100,000 years ago the breaching of a huge glacial lake fractured the chalk land bridge connecting Britain to continental Europe, initiating the formation of an island.

Fascinating stuff Mendip.

Amazing to get some insight into how the geological and geographical upheavals of aeons ago shaped the most significant human geo-political tidal flows of the last millennium.

I really enjoyed this lecture course by the wonderful Stuart Sutherland, a geologist and paleontologist

The Great Courses

It is a 36 lecture history of life on a geological timescale and from a geological perspective

Swampy ground across what is now The Dogger Bank

You have got the smashed starfish lady in the dogging wank bank fer life fer shure and that is something nobody can ever take away



That is a bold move to bust too, if the feisty Queen Lagertha from the Vikings show is an indicative character representation

[Saint Willy]

Fascinating stuff Mendip.

Amazing to get some insight into how the geological and geographical upheavals of aeons ago shaped the most significant human geo-political tidal flows of the last millennium.

I really enjoyed this lecture course by the wonderful Stuart Sutherland, a geologist and paleontologist

The Great Courses

It is a 36 lecture history of life on a geological timescale and from a geological perspective



You have got the smashed starfish lady in the dogging wank bank fer life fer shure and that is something nobody can ever take away



That is a bold move to bust too, if the feisty Queen Lagertha from the Vikings show is an indicative character representation

Indeed I’d happily give her chocolate starfish a battering, even if she was a granny!

[Mendip]

^ You didn't see the boat race, mate!

Fascinating stuff Mendip.

Amazing to get some insight into how the geological and geographical upheavals of aeons ago shaped the most significant human geo-political tidal flows of the last millennium.

I really enjoyed this lecture course by the wonderful Stuart Sutherland, a geologist and paleontologist

Yeah, if it wasn't for the formation of the English Channel that fancy Jag of yours would be left hand drive, and that tidal flow of Asians turning up to your gaff would be arriving perched up on the left hand seat of their Toyotas... it makes you think.

I'm always looking for something to listen to during my lonely night shifts so checked out those lectures you mentioned... but they're videos AND you have to pay for them. I don't suppose you know if he's done any free podcasts?

And as for your 'dogging wank bank' comments... I'll ignore them.


Anyway, the weather picked up steadily as we progressed through the English Channel yesterday. I hope those chaffinches made it off the boat at Lowestoft or they'll have had a good soaking yesterday.



We passed the Isle of Wight early afternoon, keeping well clear of The Needles.



^ And you see the two small turquoise boats off our starboard side in the website...

Here they are in real life. You can see the Isle of Wight in the background with what looks like a huge container ship just in front.

This was probably my last glimpse of land until Gibraltar.



This one looked like some kind of naval vessel... but I don't know if it was a French one ushering illegal migrants across the channel or a British one trying to repel them.



And tonight we're about to round the Brest Peninsular and start heading across the infamous Bay of Biscay.



We're currently heading straight into 20 knot winds and the boat's moving badly enough as it is. Once we change heading southwards we'll be beam on to 4 to 5 metres seas coming in off the Atlantic and it's gonna get nasty. I hope the skipper slows down a bit or I won't be getting much work done tomorrow night.

[Saint Willy]

^ You didn't see the boat race, mate!

Yeah, but you dont stare at the mantle piece when you are stoking the fire!

[Saint Willy]

Yeah, if it wasn't for the formation of the English Channel that fancy Jag of yours would be left hand drive, and that tidal flow of Asians turning up to your gaff would be arriving perched up on the left hand seat of their Toyotas... it makes you think.

Fascinating stuff mate!

[Stumpy]

I have dropped 40k for a pair for someone near and dear to me. My last trip to usa i got three good pairs for the price of one good one here.

My wife and I found opposite results (Well my wife did as I do not wear glasses). Recently in BKK a descent pair ran us about about 6800 bht, took 3 hours included the eye examine. In US in comparison when we stopped at Lens Crafters it was going to be 12 to 15k baht and that takes an optical eye appt which was another 2k baht and had to wait for 2 days. I find optical, dental and most medical processes significantly less expensive here in Thailand usually coupled with far better customer service.

[Stumpy]

Great updates Mendy. Love seeing the journey.

Keep them coming

[OhOh]

I've had a hard time getting adjusted to them.

Not as bad as getting used to soft contact lenses!

Which now appear to be available with a similar variable focus setup.

[Topper]

This one looked like some kind of naval vessel... but I don't know if it was a French one ushering illegal migrants across the channel or a British one trying to repel them.

Don't think so...no flag flying and no number on the side that I can see.

Not as bad as getting used to soft contact lenses!

I've never used contacts...I don't like the idea of a piece of plastic in my eye.

[Looper]

I'm always looking for something to listen to during my lonely night shifts so checked out those lectures you mentioned... but they're videos AND you have to pay for them. I don't suppose you know if he's done any free podcasts?

You can find the whole course in 720p on Piratebay and the other usual places.

If you have got an internet connection and a VPN on Boatie-McBoatFace you could do worse to fill in time on the Med cruise to the Black Sea

Really enjoyable presenter and material

[Mendip]

^ Thanks Looper... it'll have to wait. I can't download stuff on work computers.


Our position hasn't been updated for nearly a day on the website which still places us somewhere between Land's End and Brest.

My calculations locate us here... displayed with the help of Coco.

(and before you wonder how I can use a sextant in the middle of the night... my 'calculations' involved walking across to a computer and clicking on 'Ship Position')



We're approaching Cape Finisterre, which was believed to be the end of the known world in Roman times. Cape Finisterre is located within the 'Costa da Morte', the Coast of Death, known as such because of the treacherous rocky coastline which has been a graveyard for ships through the ages. Fingers crossed the skipper keeps his eyes peeled tonight.

Many years ago I did some work with Sverker Hallstrom, a Swedish shipwreck hunter based in Singapore. The ill-fated project I worked on is consigned to anonymity but he has had several successful projects over the years. One of these included the salvage of gold sovereigns from the RMS Douro, a Victorian era steamship that was wrecked off Cape Finisterre in 1892. Unfortunately I wasn't on that project which raised around £1.5 million, but I do have one of the gold sovereigns somewhere in storage with all my crap.

The story is told here.

RMS Douro gold Sovereigns


I went up to the bridge today. It's five decks up from the main deck (where my office is). You may get a good view from the bridge but the movement is way worse. I'm happy where I am.



This is where the ship is being driven from.



And the view from the driver's seat.



The DP (Dynamic Positioning) consul. The ship's position is controlled from here when we're off main engines and using thrusters while working with the ROV. The DP consul faces aft.



And the view...



But it doesn't matter where you sit during a transit... there's usually very little to see.

The only thing of interest I saw yesterday was this container ship, heading in the same direction as us.

[Joe 90]

driven from

Nautical terms please

Interesting history lesson, btw what's the gold coin worth today?

[David48atTD]

Interesting history lesson, btw what's the gold coin worth today?

RMS Douro’s Sovereigns
As with all salvaged material from wrecks Sverker Hallstrom and his team were required to wait one year and one day before legally making claim to their bounty.
After this period all coins were sent to Spink and Son of London for classification and some 10,000 were considered to be of collectible quality and interest.
Four months later a huge auction took place in London with the largest collection of Sovereigns ever sold including some of the rarest.

Michael Marsh listed, two 1863 ‘827’ sovereigns one of each variety, ‘827’ on truncation with die number and the rarer ‘827’ as die number. Just One 1843 narrow shield variety which tends to suggest just how rare these are.

Thirteen 1859 Ansell sovereigns were found with just two grading EF and above which in itself suggests that these did not wear at all well in circulation even for a short period of time.

The collector can find the Ansell sovereign today in grades @VF for @£2000 but will need to part with a sum closer to £5000 for something nearer to EF.

1 - The Sovereigns of the RMS Douro – Allgold Coins

VF = Very Fine
EF = Extra fine