Thread 4 - TalkExiles: "The Planet Goes On Being Round"

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous lifeboat threads 1 & 2 & 3.

Gather here all ye refugees from the JTT Flat Earth Society, welcome to the reassuringly oblate spheroid of MN! Ye all already know the answers to the questions "How the heck do I format my post?" "Why can't I edit my typos?" "What do those acronyms mean?" and most importantly, "Where is everybody that I used to know?"

So really we're all here just to chat randomly.

Thanks for all the wishes, everyone.

Duc, yes. Not really because I want to, but I need a regular income and it's been so sporadic recently. If it falls through, I have some contracts from March, but long term, it's not teneble.

It's a fucker, this 'work' business. And so time-consuming!

Even though that is true about work, fingers crossed for you, Sinner!

Thanks once more!

😀

Good luck Sinner.

and in cat undercarriage news, I had a little rootle under the cover of giving Oscar a cuddle. Tiny discreet furry bag, despite his year (at least) as a feral tomcat at large. I sometimes wonder is he an ancestor of Rosy - her birthplace is only about a mile away across country.

Good luck, @SinnerBoy !

Good luck Sinnner!

And another belated good luck (damn you time difference) from me, Sinner.

I could never work out Xartra in the old place.

@Britinme

There were a few like that, but yeah.

Good luck, @SinnerBoy !

Under the new orthodoxy, would Xartra be trans rather than a sock?

Good luck sinner, I know the feeling of wondering where the next contract is coming from….

And get well soon Kuc, such a shame to be ill when away on a great trip like that….

I've had a new car on order since this time last year. Had just resigned myself to having to drag the current one through another MOT (whole big saga over here with backlogs - MOT due 1st week of March, couldn't get an appointment before mid May, tax runs out end of March, can drive without an MOT but not without tax - and can't tax without the MOT ...).

But I've just had an email to say by new car has been built and has left the factory - and it should be here by the end of the month.

So I can skip the whole MOT saga (and pre-MOT servicing costs)!

Thanks bnbn! On the bright side, my sense of smell and taste are unaffected. And so I can continue to enjoy my food at the many excellent outdoor shacks around the city.

Here is what many would say is the national dish: nasi lemak (coconut-milk rice, sambal, fried peanuts, ikan bilis tiny deep-fried baby fish, cucumber). This one has a deep-fried chicken leg with it, but often it is served with rendang instead.

The sambal is the important bit, every stall will have their signature recipe and everybody has their favourite (debates can get quite heated).

Oh, I miss Sambal, which all the Dutch ships have, as they tend to have Indonesian crews. I usually scrounge a jar from the cook.

@SinnerBoy - You can get Dutch Sambal Oelek (Lucullus brand) through hated Amazon. It's a bit on the pricey side, but worth it as the alternative for me is a 2-hour round trip to the nearest stockist. I order 3 or 4 jars at a time.

I must try that, never had it. Google Reckons Sainsbury's stocks it.

Still getting notifications about AIBU poll votes even though I turned the fucking things off.

God, rugby union is dull.

but we won! So that's all right.

Mount Washington is about 70 miles from us, but higher up - about 6300 feet. The observatory on top of Mount Washington last night reported -49F and -109F for ambient and wind chill temperatures. -45C and -78C. We had a comparatively mild -14F, -26C (ambient - no idea what the wind chill temperature was). It is going to warm up tomorrow and may even be above freezing. It has started warming up already and is currently 8F, which is -13C. Balmy!

Brr! 8C here which is just about bearable. -13C? No thanks, although I suspect if you experience it often you are hardier and better prepared than me.

It got down to -12C here in 2009/10, and I didn’t notice it being appreciably colder than 0 or -1 or -2, as long as I wore plenty of layers. And we kept the fire burning all day and night. Pipes all froze to the stables though, and you don’t notice how much water horses drink until you have to lug 10-gallon containers of it 500 metres uphill.

My lovely stepson lives in rural Quebec, about 60km north-west of Montreal. It was -31C there overnight and is currently -21C ... at 3 in the afternoon! But we once came out of a hockey game in Montreal around 11 at night and stood on a corner, in a howling wind, at -16C (there was a helpful sign!), discussing where to go and eat. I was wearing an ankle-length down coat, and shrieking "FFS! I don't care where we eat as long as it's indoors!" He didn't even zip up his jacket. So I'm sure he'll just shrug it off as "a bit on the cool side".

The native Mainers tend to react in much the same way.