What's made your day today?

[Slim]

Wouldn't say this has made my day exactly, but a nostalgic moment. I started my first job at Canary Wharf 30 years ago exactly. It wasn't as well developed then as it is now but it was an amazing place, all gleaming granite and steel, the huge tower, Cabot Square, the shopping mall, the restaurants and bars.

I was a sys admin at Morgan Stanley. I worked with brilliant people, part of a fantastic team. Over the next few years I had countless trips to New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Geneva, Frankfurt, San Francisco. Business class, always one of the best hotels in town, or if I was there for a few weeks, a serviced apartment. Restaurant and bar bills never given a second glance.

But the biggest change was the culture. I'd just left a role as an IT manager at a Japanese bank in the City. There, the paradigm was very much Them and Us. Japanese staff, local staff. But at Morgan, American and British staff were all in the same team, no special status. In technology terms as well it was like being propelled into the future. Despite my best efforts to drag them into the late 20th century, the Japanese place was backward, conservative, institutionally resistant to change. But Morgan had some amazing stuff. I felt like that 1960s USAF pilot who gets beamed onto the USS Enterprise.

A few years later Morgan had the top floor in the tower, One Canada Square. Europe's tallest building at the time, and I got to work there for a year.

It sometimes feels like a dream now.

Years later, after I'd moved back to the East Midlands, I noticed this gem on the iPlayer. It had been broadcast on that same day I started my Canary Wharf adventure.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01rrc9j/building-sights-series-4-1-canary-wharf

[Slim]

So: the good news, which is why I'm posting in this thread and not the other one, is that I don't have macular degeneration. What I do have is called "cellophane maculopathy". It's never going to get any better but it's quite likely that it won't get any worse. More importantly, the other eye only gets it in about 10% of cases.

So when I use a computer, my right eye has been doing all the work and my brain has been ignoring my left eye. Interestingly my distance vision isn't quite so much affected, for example when I was out on a bike yesterday I tried reading road signs at a distance with my good eye closed and that was OK. The text looks wobbly, but I can read it.

What's happened is that a thin layer of tissue on the surface of my retina has shrunk, which has made it wrinkly. So the effect is not unlike what might happen if you had wrinkly clingfilm stuck to the surface of a camera sensor.

Just been for an eye test.

A few weeks ago I was idly gazing around a room and I noticed that the line between the wall and the ceiling wasn't wonky, when viewed with my left eye. Odd .. I'd been told that the condition was irreversible, but it seems to have gone away.

So: I had my eyes scanned today and the optometrist explained what had happened. The jelly in my eye that was pulling on the cellophane-like tissue has now separated from it, so it's sprung back into place! There's a little air gap now. Quite normal apparently and not a concern, although my left eyesight is not as good as it would have been if it hadn't happened at all. She actually showed me the scan and you can see it quite clearly. Remarkable.

Anyway I have a new prescription, seem to be doing fine at the moment.

[Slim]

Always fancied a Ferrari, now I've got a pair!

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[pxr5]

I went down to Weston-Super-Mare on Saturday for an RAF Trade Group 3 reunion. There must have been about a thousand people there; between us on my course we managed to find 5 of the 8 members to go down to the event. These are the guys I went through training with, both at RAF Swinderby for basic training, then 18 months trade training at RAF Locking - this was a few miles from Weston, hence the venue for the reunion. We had a sister course too, also of 8 people, but we couldn't find anything about them now. The first photo shows some of us passing out from RAF Locking in 1983 as Junior Technicians before we all went our separate ways. The second photo was on Saturday. A couple of those guys I hadn't seen for 43 years. It was so weird catching up with all the life stories and then ending up here so long afterwards. We all had a real laugh and one of the chaps had even taken loads of photos back in 82/83 which he'd digitised (none of the rest of us remember any of these pictures being taken). Happy days and whilst I probably won't go to a full reunion again (I only recognised 2 other people I'd worked with in the past), we've all agreed to another meet up soon. And before then we'll try to find out where the other 11 guys are. Next time I'm hoping wherever we meet up, it'll be a bit closer to me - it was a 450 mile round trip by car going to Weston and back on Saturday/Sunday. Sadly, RAF Locking shut a long time ago, but what a place to have a camp - a few miles from a holiday resort.

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[Matt2112]

Ordered some Euros for going away this weekend, went home, opened a drawer which I knew had my passport at the bottom of it, but next to that was a small paper folder of Euros that I'd completely forgotten was left over from my last couple of trips to Greece - and which was a fair amount of Euros more than what I'd just ordered.

[Nickslikk2112]

On a bit of a downer of a day - My cousin's funeral - I did get the chance to see Bingley Hall a couple of times and relive old memories.

If my cousin hadn't moved to Stafford I probably wouldn't have got to see Queen and Rush there. It gave mey mum and dad to have a night out and my mum was like a big sister to my cousin - just 12 years age gap between them.

[Thenop]

Dentist offer is in, why not in the grumpy thread despite the 5500 EUR pricetag? Well, firstly because the insurance pays for some of it, but also because I am really looking forward to be able to eat normal things like a normal human being again.

My teeth have always been bad, terrible even, due to no fault of my own. Just bad luck. I can brush and brush, no joy. So it needs work, and some radical at that. So on with some extractions of what were once molars on Thursday next, puttng in various crowns and more fun stuff.

Believe it or not, I am happy about the whole process. Never been scared of any dentist, that helps.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Dentist offer is in, why not in the grumpy thread despite the 5500 EUR pricetag? Well, firstly because the insurance pays for some of it, but also because I am really looking forward to be able to eat normal things like a normal human being again.

My teeth have always been bad, terrible even, due to no fault of my own. Just bad luck. I can brush and brush, no joy. So it needs work, and some radical at that. So on with some extractions of what were once molars on Thursday next, puttng in various crowns and more fun stuff.

Believe it or not, I am happy about the whole process. Never been scared of any dentist, that helps.

Glad you're going to be getting through this soonish, Nop. Good that you don't have the common dentist phobia too. Juicy steaks await, assuming you're not vegetarian.😁

[Matt2112]

Journey through hell to get to Athens: slot substantially delayed at Manc and then when we got one there was a bird strike on another aircraft, so that needed "cleaning up", hence we left almost two hours behind schedule; then we were held in a holding pattern for ages in Athens' airspace far away from the usual wonderful panoramic view you get of the city on the usual final manoeuvres, then the private transfer from the airport blobbed on us, so we had to get the crowded train into Syntagma.

But once we got there, we suddenly became part of the pilgrimage of endless folk in Iron Maiden t-shirts and denim jackets festooned in patches, complete strangers smiling at each other and saying, "See you tomorrow...", all with that beautifully illuminated Parthenon serving as a backdrop to the camaraderie.

My goodness, I love this place.

[Thenop]

author=The Picnic Wasp link=msg=42870 date=1779484540]
Juicy steaks await, assuming you're not vegetarian.😁

I actually am, so they have to wait for someone else then. I will settle for a decent fresh loaf of bread with a crispy crust   

[Matt2112]

Of course, it was Iron Maiden (and Anthrax, who played a rousing warm-up set) at the modern Olympic Stadium in Athens.

I'm aghast at just how ageless Maiden are; tonight was possibly the best I've ever seen them perform, 38 years after I saw them for the first time at Donington, and a fair few times since.

And the location-specific tshirt I bought for a bargain 50 Euros is one of the best band T-shirts I've ever seen, let alone bought.

[Thenop]

Dentist offer is in, why not in the grumpy thread despite the 5500 EUR pricetag? Well, firstly because the insurance pays for some of it, but also because I am really looking forward to be able to eat normal things like a normal human being again.

My teeth have always been bad, terrible even, due to no fault of my own. Just bad luck. I can brush and brush, no joy. So it needs work, and some radical at that. So on with some extractions of what were once molars on Thursday next, puttng in various crowns and more fun stuff.

Believe it or not, I am happy about the whole process. Never been scared of any dentist, that helps.

Considered bumping it to Grumpers, but won't do it. Turned out molar nr4 was unsalvageble so it was 4 extractions instead of 3, spent a good 75 mins in the chair and have 7 stitches. Bit painful now, sore of course.
That'll pass. It's the start of new dental work though, so that is good news.

[Fishy]

All kilted up for a wedding in Barrhead Glasgow

[The Picnic Wasp]

Of course, it was Iron Maiden (and Anthrax, who played a rousing warm-up set) at the modern Olympic Stadium in Athens.

I'm aghast at just how ageless Maiden are; tonight was possibly the best I've ever seen them perform, 38 years after I saw them for the first time at Donington, and a fair few times since.

And the location-specific tshirt I bought for a bargain 50 Euros is one of the best band T-shirts I've ever seen, let alone bought.

Quite jealous. Sounds like a brilliant night.

[Slim]

The BBC lists the results for candidates at Makerfield gaining more than "2e-06%" of the vote, which in this case is mathematical notation for about 0.00076 votes.

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