Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[RED-DOG]

Under 10* is pretty cold for a house to get. I was on hols a couple of winters ago and something went wrong with the boiler so it didn't start, as it should have, when the house fell below 16. Think the house was about 11* or 12* when I got back. The boiler started after a tioatioa but it took about 12 hours at full tilt to get up to 20*.

We don't have the heating on overnight (Don't like it) and in this below freezing weather the temp quickly drops to around 6c. It gets back to temp again in about an hour when we put the heating back on though.

I get up first, make tea and sit in front of the 'Flame effect' electric heater while the boiler warms the place up.

Such luxury, especially when I used to be the firelighter at home.

[RED-DOG]

Lol. I regularly see those, "I've bought em so I'm wearing em" shorts blokes striding through the woods with corned beef legs.


I often forget to put a light on and Mrs Red comes home and says, "What are you up to, why are you sitting in the dark?"

I've worn them years round for as long as I can remember.
Don't feel the cold on my legs. Put it down to a hard life growing up, or more likely, out playing football in all weathers as a sports mad child

I think I'm a bit of a softy. These days I've taken to wearing long Johns under my jeans.






It's a bit of a bugger trying to get my Willie Wombat out through three layers of clothing though. Another cm and I wouldn't make it.

[RED-DOG]

While I'm admitting to embarrassing things, I've somehow accidentally become addicted to The Traitors on BBC 1.

It's utter shite but I can't stop watching. Tell me I'm not alone.

[nirvana]

Drawn in by the hype of the 1st series which I missed, I watched the second and loved it. Since then been catching up with all manner of versions from overseas.

Its hard to describe or understand why it's so compelling.  Not sure if I think it's because we're in on the secret and can laugh our socks off at how judgemental, easily swayed, partisan, over eager to please (etc etc for generally negative traits) people can be. Could just be the casting people are very good at their jobs and put an interesting mix of people in there

[Mohican]

Look at this microwave toasty maker.

Mrs Red, who is gadget mad bought it for £2.50. I poo pooed it but it works great.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

I do my toasties in the air fryer

[RED-DOG]

Ooh, I say!

Never thought of that. Anything I should know before I experiment?

[RED-DOG]

Drawn in by the hype of the 1st series which I missed, I watched the second and loved it. Since then been catching up with all manner of versions from overseas.

Its hard to describe or understand why it's so compelling.  Not sure if I think it's because we're in on the secret and can laugh our socks off at how judgemental, easily swayed, partisan, over eager to please (etc etc for generally negative traits) people can be. Could just be the casting people are very good at their jobs and put an interesting mix of people in there

Glen!

A fellow crapaficianado.

I should have known I could count on you to save me.

[Mohican]

Ooh, I say!

Never thought of that. Anything I should know before I experiment?

Put the bread in to the air fryer first to  toast both sides  slightly, then add ingredients before making it into a sandwich.

[RED-DOG]

Ooh, I say!

Never thought of that. Anything I should know before I experiment?

Put the bread in to toast both sides  slightly, then add ingredients before making it into a sandwich.

Not enough room to lay two slices side by side. Do I let them overlap for the initial, pre toasty toasting?

[Mohican]

Ooh, I say!

Never thought of that. Anything I should know before I experiment?

Put the bread in to toast both sides  slightly, then add ingredients before making it into a sandwich.

Not enough room to lay two slices side by side. Do I let them overlap for the initial, pre toasty toasting?

don't have to lay them flat, just in there

[RED-DOG]

Ooh, I say!

Never thought of that. Anything I should know before I experiment?

.
Put the bread in to toast both sides  slightly, then add ingredients before making it into a sandwich.

Not enough room to lay two slices side by side. Do I let them overlap for the initial, pre toasty toasting?

don't have to lay them flat, just in there

Cheers Mr Hican, I will give it a shot

[tikay]

I've been trying to get a rough idea of the cost of the average house in LA. It seems to be around a million plus contents. The latest figures say over 5000 homes destroyed.

So, 1000000 x 5000 + contents + vehicles + loss of earnings + temporary accommodation costs = A lot.

Hurricane Katrina was $100bn. Think the average property loss is huge, but it is a relatively small area.  A big tsunami, earthquake covers a much bigger area even if the average loss is smaller.

Also you need to factor in land values.  Land in the Hollywood Hills/Malibu will always have a large value even if it is more prone to fires there days.  So the rebuild cost of a million pounds house is significantly less than £1m if in a desirable area.  

When the big West Coast earthquake happens, it will likely dwarf this.  Think you get kind of immune to big numbers if you work in Insurance.

Nost numbers that seem enormous to Joe Bloggs on the street would seem small to those doing the accounts at a big reinsurer.

At last, among the detritus of how to make a bit of toast & "Traitor" TV pap (very disappointed in Glenda) something mildly interesting.

Doobs is right that re-insurance & disaster insurance numbers are somewhat beyond our comprehension.

The staggering success of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is based on using Insurance "Float" as his working capital. Insurance Float is the pool of premiums that insurers charge in advance & which sit in their bank until at some point in the future some or all of it may be paid out in claims. (Insurance premiums are charged & paid in advance, which is jolly handy if you run an Insurance or ReInsurance business).

Disaster Insurance is always spread across the industry, so that the risk is never carried by a single insurer.

The cost to the insurance world of Hurricane Katrina is estimated at somewhere between $100 & $150 billion.

At Berkshire Hathaway, who are very big indeed in the world of Insurance, Disaster Insurance & Reinsurance, they state that Hurricane Katrina cost them $3.4 billion. Their current insurance "float" (cash from Premiums sitting in their bank)? $168 billion. So one of the world's biggest insurance disasters only cost them around 2% of their "float".

OK, the Diary can get back to discussing how to make toast now. One never knows, next up, how to make a cup ogf tea, or isn't Michael McIntyre's Big Wheel great.

[RED-DOG]

Listen Buster, I admit that Dooby's insurance quote was fascinating, as was your contribution, but it takes more than prime beef to make a Wellington. Weren't you entranced by the image of Vegaslover defying the winter in his shorts, didn't you smile at Trev's "Yourself" quip, don't you admire how beautifully yet effortlessly crafted Glen's Trators post was?

Did you know you could make a toasted sandwich in the air fryer?

So much gold in the thread yesterday.

Pearls before swine.

[tikay]

Listen Buster, I admit that Dooby's insurance quote was fascinating, as was your contribution, but it takes more than prime beef to make a Wellington. Weren't you entranced by the image of Vegaslover defying the winter in his shorts, didn't you smile at Trev's "Yourself" quip, don't you admire how beautifully yet effortlessly crafted Glen's Trators post was?

Did you know you could make a toasted sandwich in the air fryer?

So much gold in the thread yesterday.

Pearls before swine.

I'm sure Glen's Traitor ramblings were interesting but I fell asleep halfway through.

I never knew one could make a toastie in an air frryer, but I don't have van air fryer or know what one is. I have a frying pan, if that helps? I can make omelettes & all sorts in it.

Men wearing shorts in this weather? There was a fella wearing shorts at DTD last night, & in fact you were with me last week when we saw a bloke playing golf in shorts. Utter madness.

PS - just been for my RSV jab, have you had yours yet?

[RED-DOG]

I tried to get an RSV jab but they said I was too young.
That's an obstacle I thought I'd never encounter again.