The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

Aditi asked me to mention that it was only the house near the Hippodrome she didn’t like. She is very fond of Shropshire and used to regularly take her geography students there for fieldwork. 
 

We don't like then either.

 

Where they are built used to be open fields.

[TheQ]

The current Google view from above of my house is late 2020...

[polybear]

3 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

So as his father had taught him he had religiously maintained separate tins for each and every size and kind of screw, nail, nut, washed, bolt and other bits.  All labelled.  You want a ⅞" round wire bright-head nail?  Yup - there's three in the tin!  Most of what there was carried tarnish and rust.  Frankly it wasn't going to be worth re-homing the lot (for such small quantities in most cases) and to have mixed them and condensed the sequence would have been self-defeating.  So, once any unsuitable items had been removed, the whole lot went for recycling.  

 

People sell the empty tins on the 'bay now.

[SM42]

SM42 Towers on Google from above shows the East wing yet to be built and the current cars on the drive, which puts it post 2014. 

 

Street View is a little more interesting. 

The original showed the window cleaner on site and my uncle in residence and probably prepping the downstairs toilet for painting ( it was light blue. He looked like a Smurf at the end of the day)

 

A more up to date view shows our recent water feature out front and my arm and left ear are visible in the bay window whilst applying a coat of magnolia Fresh Flour 

 

So two views, 13 years apart and in  both, SM42 Towers is being decorated. 

 

Andy

[SM42]

In other news  I arrived home to find a parcel addressed to me  sitting on the floor in the lounge. Mrs SM42 mentioned I had had a delivery.

 

" What is it?" She asked all innocent like.

 

AWOOOOGAH! AWOOOOGAH!

 

" I don't know. Possibly something I pre ordered months ago. "

I ventured with a little bending of the truth.  (Warley wasn't months ago)

 

"Oh" she said. 

 

I think I have got away with it. 

 

Soon  find out I suppose. 

 

Andy

[DenysW]

29 minutes ago, SM42 said:

I think I have got away with it. 

Poor naif boy - when did these delusions start, by the way? Have you seen your GP about them? Limited grasp on reality is worrying especially amongst drivers.

[Tony_S]

52 minutes ago, SM42 said:

I think I have got away with it. 

If Aditi asks how much something was I usually reply “millions of pounds” but then tell her if she asks, she then says something like “it isn’t very big” or it not being a nice colour. When my Fell arrived after a somewhat complicated dispatch process, Imalso mentioned I had pre ordered it a couple of years ago. Her comment “ you waited two years , for that!”  Fortunately I am lucky as Aditi is of the opinion that hobbies “are a good thing“ and is always pleased when some tool purchased for modelling saves the day for a diy task, especially the unplanned ones. 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Tony_S

[BoD]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

People sell the empty tins on the 'bay now.

Is that because people collect them or just that they are useful storage.

[Winslow Boy]

1 minute ago, BoD said:

Is that because people collect them or just that they are useful storage.

 

One doesn't enquire about such things as it can lead you down a rabbit hole never to be seen or heard from again.

 

So just say thank you and think about what the moullar can be spent on.

[5 C]

The current Google Streetview picture of my house (dating from August 2012), shows the borough council refuse wagon in the act of tearing a large branch from the tree in the middle of the cul de sac. The tree, a catalpa, belongs to all the homeowners not the council.

 

Pretty irrefutable evidence when it came to asking them if and how they were going to make good the damage they caused.

[Dave Hunt]

The Google Earth satellite view of our house and the street view seem to be up to date except that the footprints and broken bricks on the drive following HH's last visit aren't visible.

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

Feel for me!

 

I was 'persuaded' to go to Cheshire Oaks today... a Friday.

I had to lie down for a couple of hours when I got home.

 

However, when I did get home, there was a letter waiting for me from the Hand, Wrist and Elbow Service telling me I had a face to face appointment next Tuesday, where they will investigate why I still have sore knuckles and swollen fingers in my left hand.

 

My inquisitive mind does wonder whether the majority of their clientele are teenage boys?

[Dave Hunt]

Reading about the use of large numbers of the same tobacco tins for workshop storage made me think that I must be relatively slapdash as my storage consists of cigar boxes, biscuit tins, old model kit boxes, second-hand mini chests of drawers and almost anything else that can be pressed into use. Unfortunately, what is lacking is any coherent system and any location can contain almost anything. I depend on adopting the method that squirrels use and just try to recall where individual items lurk. Sometimes it works, other times...........??

 

And as for cupboards......

 

I have promised myself that one of these days I will sort it all out. That would probably take less time than it takes cumulatively finding the things I want when I'm modelling but somehow it never happens.

 

Ah, well.

 

Dave

   

[Dave Hunt]

2 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I was 'persuaded' to go to Cheshire Oaks today... a Friday.

 

It must be catching. I was informed this morning that we had to go to Shrewsbury to get Christmas stuff but we should be home by about two o'clock. It was actually nearly five.

 

Sometimes I can't help but feel that Scrooge got it right.

 

Dave

[Northmoor]

45 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

One doesn't enquire about such things as it can lead you down a rabbit hole never to be seen or heard from again.

 

So just say thank you and think about what the moullar can be spent on.

Indeed.  I kept my last 50-odd 35mm film cannisters knowing I'd eventually find an ideal use for them, but eventually my wife needed something for the different coloured beads of her Diamond Art pictures.  When mine ran out she found someone selling them in bulk on eBay, who had obviously been doing the same "collecting" for years.

[Happy Hippo]

6 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

Indeed.  I kept my last 50-odd 35mm film cannisters knowing I'd eventually find an ideal use for them, but eventually my wife needed something for the different coloured beads of her Diamond Art pictures.  When mine ran out she found someone selling them in bulk on eBay, who had obviously been doing the same "collecting" for years.

Air rifle pellet tins are another source of useful storage containers.  The better ones have a screw top.

 

The latest use has been as a container for softened beeswax.

 

Softened by gently heating from underneath.  A similar technique to making kiwi boot polish more pliable when 'bulling up' military leatherwork.

[AndyID]

It warmed up a bit and rained on the snow so I ran around the 'hood on the tractor clearing the roads before it all froze solid. The diesel was close to empty so I decided I better run to the gas station to refill the can. It holds five gallons and is bright yellow plastic.

 

Problem was I could not find the can anywhere 😀. I eventually gave up looking and headed to town to buy a replacement. It may show up again in the Spring but I'm beginning to think I left it on the driveway at some point and some enterprising character half-inched it.

[Dave Hunt]

43 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

I kept my last 50-odd 35mm film cannisters knowing I'd eventually find an ideal use for them, but eventually my wife needed something for the different coloured beads of her Diamond Art pictures.  

 

I did use 35mm film cans back in the 80s when I had a small business called Pilgrim Models manufacturing locomotive kits (they were GWR locos but don't let my friends know) and kept lots of the small bits for the kits in them before packing. Since the business finished they have gradually disappeared having proved useful for allsorts of other things but every now and then when I'm searching for small objectsI have a lightbulb moment and look in the remaining film cans. Sometimes it even works.

 

Dave

[AndyID]

9 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

I did use 35mm film cans back in the 80s when I had a small business called Pilgrim Models manufacturing locomotive kits (they were GWR locos but don't let my friends know) and kept lots of the small bits for the kits in them before packing. Since the business finished they have gradually disappeared having proved useful for allsorts of other things but every now and then when I'm searching for small objectsI have a lightbulb moment and look in the remaining film cans. Sometimes it even works.

 

Dave

 

Another handy storage trick often employed by your Colonial Cousins for wood screws and the like is to attach the lid of jam-jars (personally I prefer spaghetti sauce jars) to the underside of a shelf with a couple of screws and hang the jars from that. The thing that's good about it is it sort of forces you to return the jar to its anointed place, although that's really more a case of "do as I say" rather than "do as I do".

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

it can lead you down a rabbit hole never to be seen or heard from again.

Better a rabbit hole than a worm hole? 

[SM42]

Ferrero Roche boxes get pressed into use here. 

Especially the tall rectangular one. 

You can see what's in it without having to take it off the shelf. 

 

I do pester work colleagues and relatives at Christmas for any of their old boxes.

There are then  of course the obligatory margarine tubs for bulk goods such as ballast and the occasional unfinished wagon kit. 

 

Temporary mobile workshop consists of a biscuit tin ( square) and a couple of cigar boxes for tools. 

 

Andy

Trying to avoid that flippin digitrains video that keeps getting in the way

Edited December 2, 2022 by SM42

[jamie92208]

I checked Google Earth today after the earlier discussion.  The image date is April 2017 yet rge new pool shed is shown.  I didn't build that till 2021.  Interesting.

 

Jamie

[br2975]

Suitably ensconced back in 'stately 2975 towers' after a few days 'north of the border' in Gargunnock, delivering Christmas presents, "grandchildren, for the spoiling of !"

.

 

Edited December 2, 2022 by br2975

[BoD]

19 minutes ago, SM42 said:

Ferrero Roche boxes get pressed into use here. 

Especially the tall rectangular one. 

You can see what's in it without having to take it off the shelf.

The flat ones are useful too. Leave the gold foil in and they are great for storing tinlets of paint. Again, you can see the contents at a glance.

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

Reading about the use of large numbers of the same tobacco tins for workshop storage made me think that I must be relatively slapdash as my storage consists of cigar boxes, biscuit tins, old model kit boxes, second-hand mini chests of drawers and almost anything else that can be pressed into use. Unfortunately, what is lacking is any coherent system and any location can contain almost anything. I depend on adopting the method that squirrels use and just try to recall where individual items lurk. Sometimes it works, other times...........??

 

And as for cupboards......

 

I have promised myself that one of these days I will sort it all out. That would probably take less time than it takes cumulatively finding the things I want when I'm modelling but somehow it never happens.

 

Ah, well.

 

Dave

   

I have several of those chests of drawers for holding screws, most of them full. I also keep the plastic boxes that the Oxford Diecast models come in as they too are useful for bits and bobs with the added advantage that you don't have to open them to see what they contain.