The Night Mail

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

Don't know who Pan Tone is but when I suggested Peach Fuzz to Mrs SM42 she said,

 

"Oh my god! On the walls?  Nice" in that sort of sarcastic way. 

 

Don't think Fresh Flour is dead yet. 

 

Andy

Oh I'd be careful there Andy she could be putting you into a false sense of security by pulling a double bluff. - you think she's not interested when in actual fact she is, but doesn't want you to suspect that she is so fains a lack of interest. Wouldn't put the paint brush away if I were you.

[ian@stenochs]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

It may have lavatorial overtones.

 

A fruity little mixture of Stroudley's LBSC  Improved Engine Green, and the North British Burnt Umber

Many years ago I was in the company of legendary authors David L Smith and John Thomas along with others.  John was giving a talk on the the NB Atlantics, his book on them had just been published.
 

Someone in the audience asked what colour would they have been painted when new?  With a straight face John explained that to get the exact shade of NB green one needed to wait until June then go to a field where cows had been grazing.  Search the field for a cowpat about two days old with a nice hard crust on it.  Scrape the crust off and what is revealed is North British green!

 

Ian.

[TheQ]

2 hours ago, SM42 said:

Don't know who Pan Tone is but when I suggested Peach Fuzz to Mrs SM42 she said,

 

"Oh my god! On the walls?  Nice" in that sort of sarcastic way. 

 

Don't think Fresh Flour is dead yet. 

 

Andy

Wasn't pan tone a a former prime minister?

Look here he comes now.

[Tony_S]

18 minutes ago, ian@stenochs said:

Scrape the crust off and what is revealed is North British green!

The model railroad (it really was railroad not railway ) club I was in had very detailed standard for module construction. Not just dimensions and wiring but for basic scenery. There was a very large container of matt vinyl (that was allegedly called Bamboo) that was to be applied to baseboards before static grass (colour specified) was applied. Those of you who remember Andrew C’s descriptions of people he encountered should know he could have had another career as a paint hue namer. His description of the club paint was baby squits brown. 

[Happy Hippo]

I have been industrious this morning, having made sure the best silver cutlery is clean and polished, and the best china and glasses have been laid on the dining table, which has a cloth and linen napkins and various candles adorning it.

 

Needless to say, the Chablis is now chilling in the fridge, and I am under starters orders for any last panic buys from the shops.

 

The feast time is slightly variable tonight as it depends on how many pre dinner drinks are consumed.

 

It should be noted that the candles in the table decoration were purchased in Germany, before my daughter was born, so now nearly 40 years ago. I should have thrown them out years ago, but you never know when these things might come in useful:  Now they have (finally)!

 

This is why you should never throw anything away🤣.

 

 

 

[GMKAT7]

Good afternoon TNMers,

 

Just a brief note to wish you all a Merry Xmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year, wherever possible.

 

Thanks for all the observations on life (armed services/policing and/or general!) and the new insights into matters railway or otherwise.

My Dad used to refer to his time in the RAF (Bomber Command 1951-56) as 'The Mob', which I only later came to understand actually meant something more serious!

 

Following the previous observations on 'L' space, I believe that it also applies to reference books/bookcases as well?

Some pre-Xmas arrivals (too obvious to be wrapped up) have now added to the critical mass, as shown attached.

When critical mass is achieved (Summer 2024 probably) are there any remedies - apart from:

(1) Reduce the family members book stash? - probably dangerous/life threatening :) or

(2) Buy another bookcase?

(3) Stop buying WW2/aeroplane books and just concentrate on railways?

 

Edit: Bookcase 3 photo needs rotating 90 degrees anti-clockwise, those books are not gravity-defying 😂

 

Best festive/seasonal wishes to all.

Nigel.

Edited December 24, 2023 by GMKAT7
Added info.

[Northmoor]

39 minutes ago, GMKAT7 said:

Good afternoon TNMers,

 

Just a brief note to wish you all a Merry Xmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year, wherever possible.

 

Thanks for all the observations on life (armed services/policing and/or general!) and the new insights into matters railway or otherwise.

My Dad used to refer to his time in the RAF (Bomber Command 1951-56) as 'The Mob', which I only later came to understand actually meant something more serious!

 

Following the previous observations on 'L' space, I believe that it also applies to reference books/bookcases as well?

Some pre-Xmas arrivals (too obvious to be wrapped up) have now added to the critical mass, as shown attached.

When critical mass is achieved (Summer 2024 probably) are there any remedies - apart from:

(1) Reduce the family members book stash? - probably dangerous/life threatening :) or

(2) Buy another bookcase?

(3) Stop buying WW2/aeroplane books and just concentrate on railways?

 

Best festive/seasonal wishes to all.

Nigel.

That's your entire book collection?  You're a beginner.....

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, GMKAT7 said:

Good afternoon TNMers,

 

Just a brief note to wish you all a Merry Xmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year, wherever possible.

 

Thanks for all the observations on life (armed services/policing and/or general!) and the new insights into matters railway or otherwise.

My Dad used to refer to his time in the RAF (Bomber Command 1951-56) as 'The Mob', which I only later came to understand actually meant something more serious!

 

Following the previous observations on 'L' space, I believe that it also applies to reference books/bookcases as well?

Some pre-Xmas arrivals (too obvious to be wrapped up) have now added to the critical mass, as shown attached.

When critical mass is achieved (Summer 2024 probably) are there any remedies - apart from:

(1) Reduce the family members book stash? - probably dangerous/life threatening :) or

(2) Buy another bookcase?

(3) Stop buying WW2/aeroplane books and just concentrate on railways?

 

Edit: Bookcase 3 photo needs rotating 90 degrees anti-clockwise, those books are not gravity-defying 😂

 

Best festive/seasonal wishes to all.

Nigel.

 

A nice collection - it'll grow to be sure!

 

What you need is a "family" bookcase plus at least a couple each for aviation and railway interests.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

[GMKAT7]

Merry Xmas Hroth,

 

The top two shelves of bookcase 1 are all my son's books (Roald Dahl, Philip Pullman, etc), so I only acquired the bottom of that one. Although Roald was a WW2 fighter pilot 😁.

 

There is a separate, fourth bookcase for all the family books uncontaminated by train/plane stuff.

 

Cheers, Nigel.

 

[TheQ]

I'm sat in a room with 45 horizontal feet of book shelving 8 ft high. There's another 15ft of 8ft high in the hallway down stairs. Upstairs there's about the same..

Then there's the books in the mobile home, and in the model railway shed...

2/3rds of the books are mine and I've read every one, some more than once...

 

Yes I read a lot..

Edited December 24, 2023 by TheQ

[bbishop]

On 22/12/2023 at 19:20, bbishop said:

I'm off in a few minutes on a CFR duty.  In theory only until midnight but there could be drunks out there, on top of the usual quota of sick people.

Turned out to be a normal day for LAS, with about 5000 calls in the 24 hours.  We responded to two of them and finished at midnight.  Our next duty is Friday, then New Year's Eve - both could be "interesting".

 

I've done two church services - two more to do, and setting up a fifth before I drive down to my sister.  I'll be in read only mode for a couple of days; so, Happy Christmas to all TNMers.  

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

 

A nice collection - it'll grow to be sure!

 

What you need is a "family" bookcase plus at least a couple each for aviation and railway interests.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Only two for Railway books,surely that is far to small a space. 

 

Jamie

[Hroth]

3 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Only two for Railway books,surely that is far to small a space. 

 

Jamie

 

At least!

 

[AndyID]

7 hours ago, SM42 said:

We're having a white Christmas 

 

Well  not much to write hone about, but snow is falling and there is a light dusting on the grass and roofs. 

 

It's that fine,  dry powdery  stuff. 

 

Andy

 

White Christmas unlikely here although snow is likely tomorrow night. Plenty of snow a few hundred feet higher.

[DenysW]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Needless to say, the Chablis is now chilling in the fridge

No!!!

 

Not Chablis: Entre-Deux-Mers (although, with care, you could get away with a Muscadet Sevre-et-Maine sur lie if you pick a good one), and not the fridge. The wine-fridge set to 8 deg-C. Did you consult @iL Dottore before launching on this abomination of a suggestion?

 

I thought not.

[SM42]

Christmas Dinner has been eaten. Presents opened and now tine for cakes 😀

 

Andy 

[Tony_S]

12 minutes ago, SM42 said:

tine for cakes

Is that some sort of pastry fork?

[Oldddudders]

10 hours ago, Mike Bellamy said:

Peach Fuzz

I knew a girl equipped with that. 

[Hroth]

38 minutes ago, SM42 said:

Christmas Dinner has been eaten. Presents opened and now tine for cakes 😀

 

Andy 

 

25 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Is that some sort of pastry fork?

 

I've a set of 6 of those...

 

Very handy!

 

[GMKAT7]

Good evening folks,

 

Well, based on the comments from Jamie, The Q and Hroth I now consider myself 'underbooked' and so shall strive in 2024 to acquire and read more 😅

 

No there's no pesky work to do anymore I feel at liberty to spend more of my days on learning more about railway history, all in the aid of muddling of course.

After all, they are reference books.

 

Merry Xmas one and all.

Nigel.

[SM42]

48 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Is that some sort of pastry fork?

 

No it's me in a rush for cake and not paying attention to my typing 

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, DenysW said:

No!!!

 

Not Chablis: Entre-Deux-Mers (although, with care, you could get away with a Muscadet Sevre-et-Maine sur lie if you pick a good one), and not the fridge. The wine-fridge set to 8 deg-C. Did you consult @iL Dottore before launching on this abomination of a suggestion?

 

I thought not.

I've never taken any notice of what I'm told to eat and drink, but only consume what I want to, and more specifically, what I like.

[J. S. Bach]

My "bookshelves" do not have many any books on them, only trains*:

The books are stacked in the hall, various rooms, etc.

 

EDIT: *FWIW, Those yellow/black boxes all contain 0 scale K-Line 21" passenger cars.

 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2023 by J. S. Bach
To add some information

[SM42]

 

Well it's off to church now and we have no WiFi currently at SM42 Villas, so there may be some radio silence from the motherland for a while

 

TTFN

 

Andy

[Oldddudders]

Christmas Eve started indifferently, when most of a tooth fell out during breakfast. I am not confident of getting it fixed before we leave for the UK on Friday, and I'm then not back until mid-Jan. Will my luck hold that long? 

 

Tabby youngster Perry hadn't turned up for breakfast, which is not unusual, so we didn't think much of it, but then I went into the big barn and found him sitting on the floor reluctant to let me approach. As he moved away I saw a great wound behind his right shoulder, although he walked steadily. I sprayed it with antiseptic solution (left over from my thyroid op!). But it's Christmas Eve, when the French eat their big dinner, it's a Sunday - what chance of finding a vet? Multiple abortive phonecalls later I was recommended by Alison to ring a vet in La Ferté Bernard, and the phone was answered immediately by a lady who offered me a consultation in 30 mins! Upshot is that we are all puzzled by his injury, nothing broken, but a great swathe of coat missing - yet he doesn't flinch when the area is touched. He is clearly in shock, has had an injection, with follow-up solution and cream for the coming week, but is now home and eating. Lives to fight another day!