The Night Mail

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Beary note to Chimpy @monkeysarefun :

 

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT......  😈

 

I found this on the internet if that helps.

 

[SM42]

Mrs SM42's ride is in for an oil change etc today. 

 

This will give me time to visit the model shop near the garage. 

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

It would appear we are going to Corfe Castle today, via Swanage.

 

What is the best way to get from Swanage to Corfe?

[br2975]

12 hours ago, SM42 said:

I have today spent a pleasant day in Hipposhire watching planes being chucked about the sky at Cosford. 

 

How some of the specialist acrobatic aeroplanes stayed in the sky defies logic 

How you can effectively stall and fly out horizontally with seemingly  no airflow over the wings is beyond me.

 

It seems you can change the laws of physics.

 

The inverted flat spin wasn't bad either. 

 

.

The twin grandsons were there also, as members of the 2077 Squadron, RAF Cadets.

.

I knew they enjoyed it because neither parent(s) nor grandparent(s) received a text or photo all day !

[Dave Hunt]

For the first time in decades I now have to do a self assessed tax return. I’ve just looked at what is involved with horror and have decide that turning the whole thing over to an accountant is the way to go. Remember when the tax man used to do it for you? Sighhhh…..

 

Dave 

[Dave Hunt]

I’m glad that those who went to Cosford enjoyed it. Having been involved in organising and running the show a couple of times some years ago I’m quite happy these days to stay well away from it, mainly to avoid the traffic jams.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

16 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

It would appear we are going to Corfe Castle today, via Swanage.

 

What is the best way to get from Swanage to Corfe?

I believe that there is a railway line in the vicinity (as I’m sure you know) but although it is green territory it’s a different green from the one you are a follower of HH. I went on it some years ago while doing missionary work down there and it was quite pleasant. 
 

Dave

[Winslow Boy]

2 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

I believe that there is a railway line in the vicinity (as I’m sure you know) but although it is green territory it’s a different green from the one you are a follower of HH. I went on it some years ago while doing missionary work down there and it was quite pleasant. 
 

Dave

Yes but what we wont to know is whether he will be wearing his 'flapper' gear?

[Happy Hippo]

38 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Yes but what we wont to know is whether he will be wearing his 'flapper' gear?

Wearing stuff like that makes it easier to get into a full spin, especially at low speed when passing non GWR locos.

 

Using the Beggs-Mueller technique can be successful in recovery.

 

'Please don't ' begs Mueller, or anyone else for that matter, is usually enough to avoid an incipient tail spin.

 

 

 

[DenysW]

45 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

For the first time in decades I now have to do a self assessed tax return.

I find the electronic version just a slog. They've already got all your PAYE ('coded') information and put it where you can find it (relatively) easily. You just have to add it up for them (sigh). Then it's just telling them what types of other income you have (property, foreign income, book royalties, whatever). This brings up forms for each non-coded type.

 

They then re-do your tax-code (wrong if you have foreign income not taxed at source).

 

There's also a place where you can predict your non-coded income for the current tax year (2024/5), which will also trigger a re-work of your tax-code (also wrong if you have foreign income not taxed at source).

 

If the wrong tax-code thing happens to you, prepare for 45 minutes listening to plastic music interspersed with information you already know and that didn't help when you tried it, then a conversation with a real person who may understand your problem or may put you through to some-one else (a maximum of twice so far), who will finally issue you with a correct-ish tax-code. Mine starts with a K to tell my main PAYE pension folks to deduct far more tax than they'd expect  -to compensate for the other income that isn't taxed at source.

 

So: 30-60 minutes once a year, part of which is remembering where the hoops you jump through are hidden. Then wait 3 weeks for the wrong tax code, then 2 hours on the phone. A slog, but not challenging enough to pay some-one else extortionate hourly rates to do it for me.

[Hroth]

 

I see that the fine encampment of Telford is getting dragged over the coals on the BBC* at present!

 

Education was addressed yesterday.

Justice is todays topic.

Unless I missed it, and it was covered before Education, Health will be examined tomorrow.

 

Its not an attack on the place itself, more an exemplar of the effect government cuts over the past decades have had on essential services.

 

* Other "news" purveyors are available.

 

Edited June 10 by Hroth
Broadened, and exculpation... Oh, and spelin to.

[Tony_S]

5 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I believe that there is a railway line in the vicinity (as I’m sure you know) but although it is green territory it’s a different green from the one you are a follower of HH. I went on it some years ago while doing missionary work down there and it was quite pleasant. 
 

Dave

I hope to travel on it next week. We have a list of things to see in Dorset (and crossing into adjacent Counties if necessary)  whatever the weather. The access information for the holiday accommodation suggests “do not arrive after dark” which sounds ominous but is to do with finding the track that leads to the property. 
Tony

Edited June 10 by Tony_S
“to” not Tom

[SM42]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I’m glad that those who went to Cosford enjoyed it. Having been involved in organising and running the show a couple of times some years ago I’m quite happy these days to stay well away from it, mainly to avoid the traffic jams.

 

Dave

 

I found it all very well organised traffic wise. 

 

Didn't rush to leave as soon as the show finished, had  a bite to eat first, , (a lot left after the Red Arrows anyway) and I was  home in just over 50 mins from starting the car. 

 

I agree the road closures in the area probably caused chaos for the locals. 

 

As for tax self cert, can you charge for the time taken? Is it tax deductable?

 

Andy

[iL Dottore]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

My flapper gear.

 

PB is more regal:

 

Are you not confusing your Ursus arctos horribilis with your Ursus maritimus? Cos it looks suspiciously like a Grizzly Bear to me.

 

Of course it could be a Grolar Bear (or Pizzly Bear) - which is a Grizzly–Polar Bear hybrid (and the side of the family PB doesn’t want to talk about…)

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

I hope to travel on it next week. We have a list of things to see in Dorset (and crossing into adjacent Counties if necessary)  whatever the weather. The access information for the holiday accommodation suggests “do not arrive after dark” which sounds ominous but is Tom do with finding the track that leads to the property. 
Tony

We are currently being hauled by P&O!

 

I usually cruise later in the year.

[Dave Hunt]

2 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

We are currently being hauled by P&O!

 

I usually cruise later in the year.

Being hauled by a Spam Can? That can earn you points for previous suffering when applying for membership at the pearly gates. 
 

Dave

 

PS Does this mean we now have common ground for being rude about other railways? 

[TheQ]

25 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

We are currently being hauled by P&O!

 

I usually cruise later in the year.

Has the valve gear caught fire yet?

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

Has the valve gear caught fire yet?

 

Or the insulation under the air-smoothed casing?

 

[Winslow Boy]

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Wearing stuff like that makes it easier to get into a full spin, especially at low speed when passing non GWR locos.

 

Using the Beggs-Mueller technique can be successful in recovery.

 

'Please don't ' begs Mueller, or anyone else for that matter, is usually enough to avoid an incipient tail spin.

 

 

 

So you'll be posting photos then.

[Northmoor]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

We are currently being hauled by P&O!

 

4 hours ago, TheQ said:

Has the valve gear caught fire yet?

 

2 hours ago, Hroth said:

Or the insulation under the air-smoothed casing?

 

You can all wind your necks in as P&O is (obviously) a Merchant Navy class, all of which got rebuilt without air-smoothed casing and with Walschaerts valve gear.  Pah, call yourselves steam enthusiasts.....

 

Never mind, here's a nice model spotted at Mangapps museum this weekend:

[Oldddudders]

6 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

You can all wind your necks in as P&O is (obviously) a Merchant Navy class, all of which got rebuilt without air-smoothed casing and with Walschaerts valve gear.  Pah, call yourselves steam enthusiasts.....

Rubbishing a class of locos from “another” railway is stock in trade for some. Instructive. 

[Happy Hippo]

You will note that I made no comment about the haulage of our train, although I think it is safe to say that 3 cylinders does sound rather different. It was a very smooth ride.  As well as P&O, we also saw another MN on shed as well as a clutch of original WC/BB class locos.

 

In typical SR fashion the facing points did not have covers, so it was a pleasant surprise to be able to watch the one at the platform road engine release, going through a full cycle.

 

 

 

 

[polybear]

8 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

For the first time in decades I now have to do a self assessed tax return. I’ve just looked at what is involved with horror and have decide that turning the whole thing over to an accountant is the way to go. Remember when the tax man used to do it for you? Sighhhh…..

 

Dave 

 

So what have you been up to to incur the wrath of the Tax Man Dave?

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

So what have you been up to to incur the wrath of the Tax Man Dave?

 

Investing and getting interest.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

Managed another two mile walk this afternoon but my right knee is complaining bitterly as a result. I have therefore awarded myself a medium sized libation of Scots happy water, which I am sipping while propping the leg up on the coffee table.

 

I apologise to afficionados of the Southern Railway for maligning the ex-Spam Can. My excuse is that it's origins and current domicile are well out of my area of expertise as well as it being about fifty years later than what I build.... 

 

.....which is typified by Northmoor's post.

 

2 hours ago, Northmoor said:

 

Never mind, here's a nice model spotted at Mangapps museum this weekend:

 

The upper one that is.

 

Dave