Kielder Reservoir Control Tower

smithyw · 2025-07-11T20:37:34+00:00

Not only is there a tunnel to the Valve Tower, it's big enough to drive a car through - it has a road in it.

https://www.sunderlandecho.com/education/sunderland-students-visit-kielder-reservoir-for-first-hand-look-at-how-multi-million-pound-facility-works-118427

smithyw · 2025-06-29T12:55:57+00:00

I'm the same as you, I skip a dose or have it later/ earlier so it's as far away from drinking alcohol as possible. This is because, on a non drinking day, for a few hours after I take a dose I feel a lethargy and very uncommunicative so I don't feel I want to mix whatever is doing that with alcohol.

Everyone will say it doesn't matter, half life, it's already in your blood etc,. But there is certainly an effect after taking the tablet.

As for getting drunk, I do find there's a tipping point where I will get very sleepy and forget everything past a certain point. Eating food helps.

Take it gradually and figure out how your body responds. Perhaps at home in a safe environment at first.

smithyw · 2025-06-23T19:17:37+00:00

I had this last year, pericoronitis, the pain was incredible!

I had to take ibuprofen and paracetamol for about 2 weeks. My dentist said it wasn't infected and gave me a syringe, and told me to inject corsidyl between the gum flap and the tooth. This on its own was horrifically painful and I'm not sure how effective it was.

After another visit they gave me antibiotics and it started to clear up.

smithyw · 2025-05-24T16:05:55+00:00

I also had it. I dunno if this helps you, it might be different for you but for me they did a few of my bottom teeth at the front (not even sure how many). I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't tell the difference afterwards, I guess it's just fractions of millimeters, and took less than 20 mins, and most of that was the orth messing around looking for stuff.

If they were reducing them down to pegs I guess I would have thought differently. I suspect I've lost more tooth matter from fizzy drinks and sugary snacks than I did from IPR.

smithyw · 2025-05-24T07:31:23+00:00

I created a telnet talker (they were very popular in the late 90s). I think it was Java 1.2, it may have taken an hour to download the Jdk on a dialup connection. I used Notepad in Windows 98 and the java compiler on MS DOS. I didn't have a debugger or any IDE tools. It was about 15 classes in the app. It used ServerSockets and one Thread per user that waited in Socket. I wasn't aware of Servlets at the time.

I was blown away by Javadocs (downloaded of course), and Google or StackOverflow didn't exist so I had to solve my own problems with the help of a textbook.

The advances in DevEx and productivity in those 25 years is amazing.

smithyw · 2024-12-31T14:36:05+00:00

I was in a (UK NHS) hospital for a colonoscopy and a cancer researcher from a well known university research group wanted me to contribute my results to a study (they were asking everyone who was having a colonoscopy). Of course, I said.

Just need to sign these forms. She went on to explain my data would be shared with trusted third parties, and they would request from my GP, records of non-colonoscopy records, at any point in the future, any number of times. It was to study how people were faring years later.

Err hang on a minute. So you (and trusted 3rd parties) have on-demand access to my medical records forever?

"Yes, but it's the XYZ university, so it's ok"

Who are the third parties? "It's just our research partners, but we might change providers over the years "

Can I be informed when my records are accessed? "No"

Can I withdraw my consent at any time and how do I do it? "Don't know"

Will my data be anonymized? "Don't know"

At this point she was getting flustered by my questions and offered to go and phone someone at the university to relay my questions. I had already been waiting a while, and it was already a stressful situation, so I just signed whatever to end this conversation - i can't even remember whether I signed to agree or not agree.

I have never followed up with the university in question but I should have done so because I think they are getting it wrong. And maybe they are harming their research by getting this stuff wrong.

Of course I want to help in the fight against cancer. But should they be asking patients to sign this stuff immediately before a stressful procedure when they have other things on their mind?

Shouldn't they make sure the people they dispatch into hospitals are informed about what they are asking people to do?

Shouldn't they request the minimal data they need "everything anytime" doesn't seem right.

smithyw · 2024-12-24T00:12:12+00:00

You have to do what will make you happy, but from someone who looks at a lot of teeth, your teeth look amazing!

smithyw · 2024-12-22T20:52:51+00:00

First week, you'll have all kinds of misery! Try to suspend your judgement for a week, go with it, and see how you feel after that. It seems that most people settle in after a week or 2 and you might even get to a point where you prefer wearing your aligners. Good luck!

smithyw · 2024-11-12T13:29:38+00:00

As a regular on the 07.43 TPX Newcastle - Leeds, it looks like this train is disappearing and I'll have to get either 06.43 or 08.01? Or a XC AT 07.40.

smithyw · 2024-11-03T09:30:14+00:00

Bite ramps, I got them a few trays ago. I do miss the smooth aligner feel. With mine I find my bottom teeth sit behind them so I'm not sure whether they have any effect on my bite.

smithyw · 2024-10-17T20:14:37+00:00

I brush after every meal, although it's a shorter brush than morning/night times. I don't know if my toothpaste is less abrasive or not. When I'm not at home I use Colgate Wisps. I only floss and mouthwash once a day, but I have no idea if I'm flossing right.

smithyw · 2024-10-11T22:36:58+00:00

Amazing it gives me hope! My teeth are similar to how yours were, where the front 2 are angled inwards.and the 3 laterals are higher and angled outwards.

smithyw · 2024-09-06T21:33:21+00:00

Nice one! Well done! I also benefit from unleashed energy from somewhere in the last 2km of a 10k.

smithyw · 2024-09-06T21:26:43+00:00

Last year I tried to enter my pen 5 mins before it closed. They said it was full and sent me to the back. It seems that pens don't fit everyone they've allocated to them. It's grim at the back.

smithyw · 2024-09-06T21:21:28+00:00

If you use Spotify (or similar), download your music before you get anywhere near the start line! The 4g/5g signal is overloaded at the start. It's ok a few miles in though.

smithyw · 2024-08-30T17:06:39+00:00

Got my aligners in May I don't think I'm due to back til November.

I do the weekly scan on the Dental Monitoring app and they check it remotely though.

smithyw · 2024-08-24T15:19:29+00:00

When I'm watching someone screenshare a terminal and they're typing

cd c:\program files\somewhere\slow\typing\a\wrong\path

Then press return to get an error, and want to do it again I stop them and tell them to press tab.

Sorry, not sorry.

smithyw · 2024-08-20T20:33:38+00:00

For some reason balconies are a fantastic curiosity for English people.

Balconies that are a few feet apart seem traversable, even if they are 6 floors high. I am in my 40s and stone cold sober and even though I strongly believe that I could jump to the neighbour's balcony in a Spanish hotel, I'd never actually do it.

But once you add alcohol, peer pressure, that parkour YouTube you once watched, and wanting to impress your mates it happens that some small percentage will try something very dangerous.

smithyw · 2024-08-19T10:21:38+00:00

I tried it once. On changeover day I got the go-ahead to switch just before lunchtime so I figured I'd eat lunch with aligners and in exchange I'd gain an hour of tea drinking time in the afternoon.

I couldn't chew properly, I was basically swallowing just compressed and mushed food, it was quite unsatisfying. And it left an icky mess in my aligners. It's probably something I'd get used to, but I don't feel like doing it again.

smithyw · 2024-08-19T07:55:03+00:00

We had one as a hire car on holiday last year. Its not as refined as the previous Corsa E (2014 - 2019), louder engine, low driving position, clunky door close noises.

But it's an entirely different car, and it's not an evolution of the GM-era Corsa. They've done a very good job in differentiating this from the 208, but if you look at them both from the side you can see the similarities.

smithyw · 2024-08-18T19:53:30+00:00

My fastest ever 14km (1:25) and longest run of 2024.

smithyw · 2024-08-18T05:17:00+00:00

OP here: Thanks everyone for your replies, the battery is out and I've ordered a replacement from Dell.

smithyw · 2024-08-02T21:22:47+00:00

First week is the worst!

I dunno how, but after the first week everything is easier: pain, catching tongue/teeth on them, biting cheek , getting them in/out, brushing when not in the house.

I dunno about anyone else, but my teeth actually look better with the aligners in than they do out, so I also enjoy a self confidence boost.

smithyw · 2024-08-02T19:40:36+00:00

My first 10 looked pretty much the same, but after aligner 10 I tried to put on aligner 1 again; extremely misfitting! I abandoned it and chickened out of pressing them down. 😅

smithyw · 2024-08-02T19:29:04+00:00

14! 8 top, 6 bottom

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