The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 04: Come On In

[TarnishedPenny]

Good morning, all!

I think, for a rare treat, we might receive Summer today. A coffee to celebrate, please!

 

[TxRad]

The high was 101 yesterday with a dew point in the mid 70's. Hot. Not supposed to be as bad today. Rain is forecast as a front comes down from Yankee land.

TP, congrats on finding Summer. (Plot bunny for Summer Loving) Remember, you can always come this way and borrow some Summer. We have plenty to spare. (Another Summer Loving Plot Bunny.)

Four stories ready for above mentioned contest. One started for Halloween but it has been stalled since last year. I need to go shake the can and see what happens. A half dozen under construction for the Winter contest. One of which has a demon as a main character.

Oh yeah, Happy Hump Day and the coffee is now fresh.

Chocolate milk and raisin toast for breakfast. Not to mention the handful of medication. I'm set until lunch now.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

How on earth does everyone write so fast? I'm not sure if I'm way below average on daily wordcount or if you guys are way above, but whenever people on here mention writing progress they seem to be writing several times as much as I can in a single day.

 

[oggbashan]

How on earth does everyone write so fast? I'm not sure if I'm way below average on daily wordcount or if you guys are way above, but whenever people on here mention writing progress they seem to be writing several times as much as I can in a single day.

Perhaps they honed their skills doing NaNoWrimo?

https://nanowrimo.org/

 

[Handley_Page]

Good morning, all!

I think, for a rare treat, we might receive Summer today. A coffee to celebrate, please!

I rather suspect we're having the first few clues about Autumn.
~It's been bloody cool today, and WET. [I know it was; I was out in it].
I think it's time for a bit of a warm and along hot coffee.

 

[NotWise]

How on earth does everyone write so fast? I'm not sure if I'm way below average on daily wordcount or if you guys are way above, but whenever people on here mention writing progress they seem to be writing several times as much as I can in a single day.

I usually write so slowly that I've about stopped giving advice. No-one needs to write the way I write.

 

[TxRad]

My normal daily writing goal is 3k. Most days i make it and more but... Most of it is aimed at my mainstream work but a little does dribble down to my Lit stuff. I have done 12-15k in one sitting but that was an unusual circumstance. I also had a sore ass and bruised fingertips afterwards.

Yeah, NaNo is good training to get in the habit of writing a goal each day. 50K words in 30 days. 1666.6 words a day will get you there but then life interupts and you play catch up.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

I guess I forgot a decent amount of writers here are retired (or close to it) and probably have more free time than I do. That is probably also a factor in it. 1k is a normal, productive writing session for me. Sometimes I write more, regularly less. But then that's also because of the time I allocate to it, obviously I could write more if I spent more time writing. Done with school soon hopefully, which would give me a lot more free time to work with. Well, until I find a job that is, but I'll worry about that later. For now, I guess I should at least make sure I write every single day, I've been slacking recently for various reasons. Fitting in 1k words in my schedule at the very least should be easy enough.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

I don't know about you, but having English as a second language, it still takes quite a bit of time for me to find the right words.

I suppose that does play some part as well. I mean, for casual stuff like these forum posts or chatting with someone I hardly need to look stuff up, but writing does use different words and it's more important to get them right. Even thought I consider myself basically fluent, I guess the words do come a bit easier to a native English speaker.

 

[NightSailor]

Meh - changed my email address two days ago and then couldn't reply nor start a new thread. Tried contacting the webmaster but no reply. SO I changed it back and left a note in the tech support forum. Whuff.

Any coffee left? Preferably the sludge at the bottom tonight.

 

[TxRad]

Meh - changed my email address two days ago and then couldn't reply nor start a new thread. Tried contacting the webmaster but no reply. SO I changed it back and left a note in the tech support forum. Whuff.

Any coffee left? Preferably the sludge at the bottom tonight.

The WebMaster is Manu and the e-mail system don't work with the mountain of spam attached. PM's are your friend. Your only friend.

It is after 1AM. Do you know where the coffee is? Okay, I'll make fresh. I don't need any personally. A nap seems to work just as well in keeping me awake.

 

[_Lynn_]

The WebMaster is Manu and the e-mail system don't work with the mountain of spam attached. PM's are your friend. Your only friend.

It is after 1AM. Do you know where the coffee is? Okay, I'll make fresh. I don't need any personally. A nap seems to work just as well in keeping me awake.

It's 3:30 am and as usual, I'm awake thanks to my stupid RLS.

 

[Handley_Page]

It's 3:30 am and as usual, I'm awake thanks to my stupid RLS.

You have my sympathy Madam.
But RLS ? WTF??
I presume the S is Syndrome, but mental attempt to sor the others out result in inappropriate jokes. . . .

Well, we started at good & bright.
It's getting darker. . . .

Any Coffee left please ?

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

You have my sympathy Madam.
But RLS ? WTF??
I presume the S is Syndrome, but mental attempt to sor the others out result in inappropriate jokes. . . .

Well, we started at good & bright.
It's getting darker. . . .

Any Coffee left please ?

I could do with one, TBH; Will and I pulled a 28-hour stint in the OR Tuesday/Wednesday, 9 RTA victims, no fatalities, but it was touch and go with a couple of them, we all spent most of our time picking thousands of Kevlar and fiberglass strands out of huge incised wounds (composite fibers don't crumple, they shatter, and leave edges like razor-blades, and the cloud of high-impact fibres that contaminate the wounds have to be cleared.) The body can't metabolize inorganic materials like that, and they travel through the bloodstream and lodge who knows where, so they have to be picked out one at a time, hence almost 10 hours of loupe and micro-forceps work before we could even address the injury sites properly.

So now we're both creeping around like aged Hermit Crabs, or at least I am and he was; a little while ago I gave him a nice mug of hot chocolate with a little something in it, and now he's fast asleep, smiling the smile of the happily concussed.

 

[oggbashan]

The NHS had until tomorrow to give me an appointment. I had a phone call this morning. My appointment is next Thursday 22 Sept.

I might have time to finish and post my third Summer Lovin' story before then.

A relieving cup of coffee would be appreciated.

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

The NHS had until tomorrow to give me an appointment. I had a phone call this morning. My appointment is next Thursday 22 Sept.

I might have time to finish and post my third Summer Lovin' story before then.

A relieving cup of coffee would be appreciated.

Bully for you, Your Maj, but it's still unfair and stressful how they squeeze it 'til the penny screams, as hubby-creature likes to say. Good luck, and hopes for a soft landing

L x

 

[oggbashan]

Bully for you, Your Maj, but it's still unfair and stressful how they squeeze it 'til the penny screams, as hubby-creature likes to say. Good luck, and hopes for a soft landing

L x

Our local NHS hospitals have real problems with recruitment particularly of nurses and ancillary staff because house costs (purchased or rented) are too high for anyone on an NHS salary to afford unless they are a consultant.

Most junior staff have to be married to someone on a substantial income.

Back in the day there used to be Nurses' Homes and 'essential worker' priority for council houses. Now there are no nurses homes and insufficient council houses for anyone. "Affordable homes " to purchase are a joke. "Affordable" means for anyone on a family income far higher than two senior nurses.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Our local NHS hospitals have real problems with recruitment particularly of nurses and ancillary staff because house costs (purchased or rented) are too high for anyone on an NHS salary to afford unless they are a consultant.

Most junior staff have to be married to someone on a substantial income.

Back in the day there used to be Nurses' Homes and 'essential worker' priority for council houses. Now there are no nurses homes and insufficient council houses for anyone. "Affordable homes " to purchase are a joke. "Affordable" means for anyone on a family income far higher than two senior nurses.

It’s a problem everywhere. There was an article in the major paper about a street which used to be a vibrant restaurant scene. That was when people could afford to live and work nearby. Now, waitstaff would spend most of their pay driving and paying for parking. Teachers, nurses, you name it are in the same situation.

We used to have staff housing in rural areas for various professions who tended to be mobile. Now, it’s left to the free market. That’s really worked.

 

[NightSailor]

The WebMaster is Manu and the e-mail system don't work with the mountain of spam attached. PM's are your friend. Your only friend.

Thanks TxRad, I couldn't even PM. All I could do was use the contact form. But I'll PM him now.

Feeling a need for a strong cuppa tea.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Coffee coffee coffee give me coffee. Got the movers booked for Sunday sept 1st to do all the heavy lifting. Now for two crazy weekends to finish throwing out junk and packing. But the books are done!!!!! And in my spare time.... writing two summer stories. Biggles is on a mission.... Loving it, except I packed all my Biggles books.

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

It’s a problem everywhere. There was an article in the major paper about a street which used to be a vibrant restaurant scene. That was when people could afford to live and work nearby. Now, waitstaff would spend most of their pay driving and paying for parking. Teachers, nurses, you name it are in the same situation.

We used to have staff housing in rural areas for various professions who tended to be mobile. Now, it’s left to the free market. That’s really worked.

One of the nudges that sent me away from my hospital in the UK was the day the senior management (none of whom were medically trained, instead, they'd been parachuted in; one clown was a Lt. Col before he was sent to us, on the premise that management skills were management skills, wherever acquired, and used to walk around barking orders which everyone ignored. He barked at me once, so I told him to go fuck himself, if he wanted people to jump around when he shouted go back to the army and find some squaddies, they're required by law to do what he tells them, in civilian life, barking at people is a tacit request for a swift kick in the balls, so go away before I gave him one, but I digress...) cancelled all the nurses' service and employment contracts, and instead put them on 'Zero-Hour' contracts, which meant that unless they actually worked, they didn't get paid, but they couldn't quit, because then they didn't qualify for unemployment benefits, because they were technically still employed, so they'd deliberately made themselves unemployed, and, as an added jab, because they were now 'contract staff' they didn't qualify for sickness benefits, holiday pay, or pension eligibility. These same management then took a 4-day jaunt to Manila to recruit more nurses, I don't know how many they managed to find, but the cost for four of them for four days was £110,000...

Most of the nurses at that place survived out of food banks, because they were hardly ever paid, half the wards were closed and most of the beds were de-allocated because of staff shortages, but I noticed the trust management team managed to budget for brand new BMW Series 4 coupés for their little clutch of bloodsuckers.

 

[oggbashan]

Years ago I applied and was short-listed to be the manager of a group of hospital trusts. I am pleased I didn't get the job because the person who did has had nothing but grief. I had advice from one of my wife's uncles who had had a similar position elsewhere. In a decade he managed to stay within budgets, reduce staff shortages by offering contracts to full and part-time staff, and modernize three hospitals. But his management style was to listen, consult and discuss with all levels of staff before acting, and to argue with the Dept of Health to protect his people. When he finally retired he was missed - but not by the politicians.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Coffee coffee coffee give me coffee. Got the movers booked for Sunday sept 1st to do all the heavy lifting. Now for two crazy weekends to finish throwing out junk and packing. But the books are done!!!!! And in my spare time.... writing two summer stories. Biggles is on a mission.... Loving it, except I packed all my Biggles books.

I’d loan you mine, but they’re in storage...

Try this for your travels Biggles combs his hair

 

[TxRad]

I'm running late but the coffee is fresh.

Yesterday it rained on both ends and both sides of the lake but not a drop fell here. Temps projected to be back to their normal mid 90's for at least the next week.

Finished up the next set of chapters on the latest novel. Two more to go and I'm taking a break.

 

[Handley_Page]

Coffee coffee coffee give me coffee. Got the movers booked for Sunday sept 1st to do all the heavy lifting. Now for two crazy weekends to finish throwing out junk and packing. But the books are done!!!!! And in my spare time.... writing two summer stories. Biggles is on a mission.... Loving it, except I packed all my Biggles books.

Biggles ?
You mean James Bigglesworth, RFC ?
Pure magic, Chloe.

I need coffee !