HPR3575: An Edinburgh Blether

Introduction

Hosts:

• MrX
• Dave Morriss

We recorded this on Sunday March 6^th 2022. The last time we set up a chat like this was back in March 2021, almost exactly a year ago surprisingly!

Note on the title: we spoke a little on the subject of the Scots language in the show - when speaking of the current census - so the title uses a Scots term.

Topics discussed

• COVID:
  • Losing track of time

• Christmas:
  • A quiet time for both of the hosts, with some family time

• Dave’s family matters:
  • Son graduated after doing an MSc and got a job quite quickly last year
  • Daughter had graduated from an MSc the year before and also got a job this year.
  • Dave had a bout of shingles in early January, which lasted about 6-7 weeks overall. If you can get a shingles vaccination as you age, get one!

• UK heating, boilers, etc.
  • MrX’s in-laws had a boiler failure during the cold weather, and a gas leak!
  • Dave had a leak in his cold water tank in the attic which flooded the room below. He decided to completely upgrade the heating system, remove all tanks and put in a new pressurised condensing gas boiler. See the Wikipedia page for an overview of central heating systems.
  • Old-style plumbing; coal fires, back boilers and dampers.
  • The era of coal:
    • Gas poker used for starting domestic (usually coal) fires
    • Coal gas made from coal, superseded by natural gas
    • Gasometer storage device for coal gas

• Internet connectivity:
  • Dave has transitioned from ADSL to fibre since the last show
    • Fibre to the Premises, with up to 1 Gbit/s if desired
    • New router using Wireless 6
  • MrX has Fibre to the Cabinet
  • Dave’s new router doesn’t allow the Pi-hole to work at the moment

• Chromebook:
  • MrX has acquired a Chromebook since our last show
    • It is convenient to use. Made answering the online Scottish Census quite straightforward.

• Census and Scots Language:
  • The Census asks about the Scots Language, whether the person can speak and understand it.
  • Dave follows @lenniesaurus on Twitter who introduces a daily Scots word.
  • According to Wikipedia:

  Scots is recognised as an indigenous language of Scotland, a regional or minority language of Europe, and a vulnerable language by UNESCO. In the 2011 Scottish Census, over 1.5 million people in Scotland reported being able to speak Scots.

Links

• Scots words:
  • Scots Language
  • The online Scots dictionary (English to Scots)
  • @lenniesaurus on Twitter - poet and Scots language enthusiast

• Plumbing, heating:
  • Central Heating
  • Hot water tank
  • Immersion heater
  • Gas poker
  • Coal gas
  • Gas holder/gasometer

• Internet connection:
  • ADSL - Asymmetric digital subscriber line
  • Fibre to the X - different types of fibre connection

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