The Night Mail

[Northmoor]

7 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I got told off for using my company credit card to buy a spare part in electricity generation.

 

If I used the central purchasing system not only would the price have been massively higher but it would have taken days to process. I called the supplier and asked if they could stick it in a taxi and send it over? Yes, no problem, for about a fifth of the price.

 

I got told off, when I said sorry, won't happen again, I was taken to one side by a director and told to ignore all that ***** and do what I needed to do to keep the plant running.

 

Every hour was losing hundreds of thousands yet purchasing insisted it was cheaper to go via central purchasing. They never even denied prices were higher but insisted their system was cheaper. I also felt there was a bad smell about it. When a microswitch I could buy online for £40 was £250 via purchasing (and that is neither exageration nor untypical) despite being the same part from the same manufacturer something is wrong.

Some time ago I was involved in looking at the impact of procurement practices on a railway business.  In one example, a "cheaper alternative" window sealant had been procured.  It met all the specifications but the time for the specialists confirming this - even though it was almost a rubber-stamping exercise - and changing all the impacted engineering documentation meant that it would have taken twelve years' purchases to recover the cost.

[Dave Hunt]

Thank the Lord I just got the news today that my car repairs are complete and it will be delivered tomorrow. I'm looking forward to giving back the horrible thing I've had to replace it for the last three weeks.

 

Dave

[Doncaster Green]

19 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

That was one of the reasons put forward for the price difference but since:

a. The production data for both was the same,

and:

b. The switches were for a simulator,

The reasoning was a load of drivel.

 

Dave

A couple of Supply Officers of my acquaintance in the early 90s would have insisted that was still a ‘flying’ application!??!

 

 

John

[AndyID]

23 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

That was one of the reasons put forward for the price difference but since:

a. The production data for both was the same,

and:

b. The switches were for a simulator,

The reasoning was a load of drivel.

 

Dave

 

The bigger question is who had their hands in the till, and my bet is it was a very long list of people.

[Winslow Boy]

4 hours ago, rockershovel said:

Well someone has to pay for the UFO kept underground at Area 51...

It's the electricity bill as the electricity is all generated from green sources.

[AndyID]

9 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Thank the Lord I just got the news today that my car repairs are complete and it will be delivered tomorrow. I'm looking forward to giving back the horrible thing I've had to replace it for the last three weeks.

 

Dave

 

I'm not going mention anything on the subject of dad walls.

[Northmoor]

8 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

One would think there should be a tapering off of the benefits  until the net take home pay exceeded the rate of benefit being claimed rather than an abrupt stop.

You would think that, but apparently it's really complicated and no-one in the Treasury/DWP knows how to create an Excel spreadsheet.

 

Amusing story: at a previous and long time employer, a round of redundancies was announced.  The company insisted it would be much too complicated to create a calculator for staff to work out what they were entitled to, because there were staff who'd joined before or after floatation, had been TUPE'd in or out etc. and were on different employment terms.  One of the Union reps, over a weekend and in his own time, produced a redundancy calculator in Excel with a different sheet for each variant of employer history, and distributed it to anyone who wanted it.  It was accurate to within about 1-2%.  In their arrogance, the company directors - especially the CEO - forgot that he employed the sort people who programme missiles to go through a specific window of its target.  A redundancy calculator was, to coin a phrase, a piece of p1$$.

[Chris Snowdon]

On 06/10/2024 at 00:52, Darlington_Shed said:

As mentioned in ERs, I'm just returned from a cruise around Italy and the Dalmatian coast and yesterday we spent the day in the Croatian port town of Rijeka. Our ship was moored at the location pictured (not my picture) and I was struck by the rail-mounted dockside cranes:

 

picture from fineartamerica

 

As shown, the left-hand rail is mounted on top of the seawall, meaning all of the cranes have to be manufactured with odd-length legs, which seemed odd to me, but obviously works for them.

 

Lots of embedded rail all along the mole/pier/breakwater although we saw no rail action while we were there. However, in the town itself along the main harbourside street, we did see a shunter moving (again, not my picture; too slow with the camera!):

 

picture from garedeshimbashi on youtube

 

I can't swear this was the engine we saw, but it certainly looked like it, and that's the place we saw it.

 

Highly recommend a visit to Rijeka if you get the chance.

Not just a really nice picture in terms of composition, contrast and colour, but a glorious one of a dockside crane.  Love it.

[Dave Hunt]

32 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

I'm not going mention anything on the subject of dad walls.

 

You know that the Bear has a list? Well, I'm seriously thinking of starting one too........

 

Dave

[Tony_S]

33 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

A redundancy calculator was, to coin a phrase, a piece of p1$$.

We went to a meeting at our son’s school that revealed all the course and exam options available for years 10 and 11. I looked at it while the deputy head told us what a wonderful piece of work it was. I noticed that that if a pupil took French they couldn’t do double science but those doing German could. As they had been put into French or German classes years previously with no choice (and our son did French) this didn’t seem right. Somimgimand enquire. First thing then deputy head said was that I couldn’t possibly have worked out all the combinations in a few minutes. Then he blustered about having to accept compromises. I then made the mistake of saying it didn’t seem fair that a language allocated years before restricted doing double rather than single science (3 sciences then had disappeared). He said “life isn’t fair, they have to get used to it”. I replied with “ replace fair with discriminatory”. I walked off to have a word with the head of science. He was appalled and suggested I should speak to the headteacher. She said the last two columns were clearly wrong, it would be sorted.,It was. I mentioned to Matthew that the deputy head seemed to assume parents were incapable of reading a subject choice grid. Matthew said the deputy head had a loud voice and smart suits and that was it basically. 

Edited 16 hours ago by Tony_S

[Tony_S]

17 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

You know that the Bear has a list? Well, I'm seriously thinking of starting one too........

 

Dave

Does the wall have a bit of a list now?

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

You would think that, but apparently it's really complicated and no-one in the Treasury/DWP knows how to create an Excel spreadsheet.

 

Amusing story: at a previous and long time employer, a round of redundancies was announced.  The company insisted it would be much too complicated to create a calculator for staff to work out what they were entitled to, because there were staff who'd joined before or after floatation, had been TUPE'd in or out etc. and were on different employment terms.  One of the Union reps, over a weekend and in his own time, produced a redundancy calculator in Excel with a different sheet for each variant of employer history, and distributed it to anyone who wanted it.  It was accurate to within about 1-2%.  In their arrogance, the company directors - especially the CEO - forgot that he employed the sort people who programme missiles to go through a specific window of its target.  A redundancy calculator was, to coin a phrase, a piece of p1$$.

 

Incredible! But I believe it completely.

 

In the US Social Security payments can be reduced if you have income from other sources. Mine were reduced a bit because I also receive a UK pension but at least the US IRS does have a formula to keep things reasonably equitable. There is absolutely no excuse for this "drop off a cliff" nonsense in the UK. It's 100% counterproductive.

 

Will I have to return to the UK and run for PM to sort all this crepe out?

 

My old classmate Andy Neil could/should have done that but he seems to be enjoying la dolce vita too much to bother 😂

 

(I always thought he was a bit of a chancer.)

 

Edited 15 hours ago by AndyID
moinfo

[Chris Snowdon]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

We went to a meeting at our son’s school that revealed all the course and exam options available for years 10 and 11. I looked at it while the deputy head told us what a wonderful piece of work it was. I noticed that that if a pupil took French they couldn’t do double science but those doing German could. As they had been put into French or German classes years previously with no choice (and our son did French) this didn’t seem right. Somimgimand enquire. First thing then deputy head said was that I couldn’t possibly have worked out all the combinations in a few minutes. Then he blustered about having to accept compromises. I then made the mistake of saying it didn’t seem fair that a language allocated years before restricted doing double rather than single science (3 sciences then had disappeared). He said “life isn’t fair, they have to get used to it”. I replied with “ replace fair with discriminatory”. I walked off to have a word with the head of science. He was appalled and suggested I should speak to the headteacher. She said the last two columns were clearly wrong, it would be sorted.,It was. I mentioned to Matthew that the deputy head seemed to assume parents were incapable of reading a subject choice grid. Matthew said the deputy head had a loud voice and smart suits and that was it basically. 

I'm not sure whether I "get" that.

I did French from Ist Form onwards to GCSE (if we ignore the home-schooling during the whooping-cough epidemic of 1982).  Did Italian later.  My sister did French, Latin and German from Ist Form onwards.  I did OK in GCSE in the three individual sciences, but she did not (her out-of-hours Chemistry tutor was me...).  I then went on to demonstrate my complete ineptitude at Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Further Maths (no-one should be predicted a higher grade at Further Maths than at Normal Maths), got into a bidding-war about doing AS-levels for those and other subjects, then did humanities subjects for A-level instead.

Over the course of a job which followed many years later, I had to read, speak, write or listen-to about 16 languages, often on technical subjects, whereas there are only six working languages of the UN.  None of those involved discussing either biology and chemistry in French (par example, les travailles et decouvrements du Pasteur et Curie), chemistry and physics in German (not a UN Working Language) or electronics in Chinese (although a client was able to do that).  I had a colleague who was able to curse in French, which actually helped on one particular project...  I once greeted a colleague in his own language, which raised his boss's estimation of me.

Yes: facility with, or the ability to learn, a language is great, but I fail to see how it is relevant to a native English-speaker embarking upon a career in an branch of science or engineering.  The harsh fact is, that those who learn it as EFL, will do so because they are already good engineers and so can master "languages" (if they are any good at their own) and if they can't then their employeer will find them a friend.  Both, individually, will be well-paid, but still underpaid for what they do.  If you're a native English-speaker, you'll be asked to correct the grammar (which can have strange consequences).  This is something which I was not taught at school.

Surely, to conclude from the above, linking a particular specialism to whether or not someone can use a particular second language is absolute nonsense?

 

BTW, my career beggars belief, but my sister chose to ignore the messed-up Chemistry exam and is now a teacher, with rather more qualifications than me.

Edited 15 hours ago by Chris Snowdon
Bigging-up my little sister.

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

We went to a meeting at our son’s school that revealed all the course and exam options available for years 10 and 11. I looked at it while the deputy head told us what a wonderful piece of work it was. I noticed that that if a pupil took French they couldn’t do double science but those doing German could. As they had been put into French or German classes years previously with no choice (and our son did French) this didn’t seem right. Somimgimand enquire. First thing then deputy head said was that I couldn’t possibly have worked out all the combinations in a few minutes. Then he blustered about having to accept compromises. I then made the mistake of saying it didn’t seem fair that a language allocated years before restricted doing double rather than single science (3 sciences then had disappeared). He said “life isn’t fair, they have to get used to it”. I replied with “ replace fair with discriminatory”. I walked off to have a word with the head of science. He was appalled and suggested I should speak to the headteacher. She said the last two columns were clearly wrong, it would be sorted.,It was. I mentioned to Matthew that the deputy head seemed to assume parents were incapable of reading a subject choice grid. Matthew said the deputy head had a loud voice and smart suits and that was it basically. 

None of these clowns should still be employed. Hopefully they no longer are.

[AndyID]

It really isn't all that complicated.

 

 

[jjb1970]

I used to enjoy winding a French permanent representative to one UN agency up. She was a really pompous individual to start with and rarely seen, she at least had the good sense to leave most of it to her assistant perm rep who was a very accomplished chap.

 

At the agency concerned working groups are in English and if plenary had to continue past COB it was in English as the translators will only do 10 minutes over time. Every time she'd make a big thing about the sanctity of multi-lingualism at the UN, though oddly this never went to calling for other languages to be included or seeing a problem if documents weren't available in Arabic or Russian for example.

 

I used to enjoy agreeing with her and suggesting that it was also time to review the six languages to consider which should be included in the six based on how widely spoken they are globally. She took the bait every time and would give me a long rant about how French was the world's diplomatic language blah blah blah, it was great fun.

 

I know an Argentinian diplomat who makes similar interventions but she is just enjoying herself winding people up. Splendid lady, one of those gifted people capable of starting a fight in an empty room.

 

That said, to be sort of serious I do think languages should have a higher priority in British education and be more diverse.  The schools my children attended in England offered French with a more limited capacity for German and one offered Spanish. Like so many things attitudes to language seem to reflect a world of 50 or 60 years ago when world affairs and finance were dominated by a handful of countries in the western bubble (West as a political concept). 

[Chris Snowdon]

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

It really isn't all that complicated.

 

 

Yes indeed.  Motors, motors, motors...  Have been having "fun" over the past few nights spooling-up some old stock, prior to potential sale (disclaimer - I am not trying to trade here).

I am finding (still, again, and still) that regardless of flange-depth, much of my stock (whose age ranges from 1960s to 2010s) all seem to run quieter on Series 3 track and the HM2000 controller than on modern Code-100 and the same controller, with a couple of notable exceptions (including particularly a Tri-ang Brit, with an "as new" motor fitted a couple of years ago, and about 10h running on it since - this was almost silent when I last ran it, on the Duette and Series 3, a few weeks ago, but sounded like a blender full of marbles on Sunday night).  I am wondering whether the coarse-scale steel track has greater resistivity (due to greater cross-sectional area) and so that helps?  I have a multimeter but haven't tried wiring it into my test circuits due to lack of croc-clips.

I have also found a couple of outright failures to be fixed, and one which runs badly and smells "a bit funny" but a couple of tiny drops of bike-oil might just fix.

And at long last I got the *^&%ing Bachmann GS-4 running again.  But only in reverse.

Motors.  Electricity.  Painting.  Historical research.  We do this as a hobby.

[J. S. Bach]

A GS-4? In the UK??

Next thing, you'll be mentioning an AC-9!

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[Chris Snowdon]

8 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

A GS-4? In the UK??

Next thing, you'll be mentioning an AC-9!

AC-9?  Whassat?

Was surprised and delighted to find a Bachmann GS-4 for sale by a UK vendor (recently-departed, but long associated with H-D).  Was tempted by its lowish price (as non-runner, but still way above scrap value), and thought that it might make a decent gift to my uncle, who has more cosmopolitan views (and a larger display-cabinet) than I have.

Thought I:  "A bit of cosmetic work, fix the ladders, get it running, and job's done".  But no... Rust... Mazak-rot...  Obviously, being a Bachmann, axles reduced to mince...  Screws which do not seem to comply with any known international standard...  Obviously, being a Bachmann, replacement axles need at least three hours of filing before they "fit" and now the *&%^ing back-to-back apparently ranges from TT to EM!

Recently, I have heard some commentators describe this (particularly the series 2, which I believe this is) to be one of the worst HO models made in recent times, if not actually ever.  I am currently minded to agreed with and adopt such opinions, regardless of my own lack of competence.

Conversely, another re-runner the other night was a Lima DB E103, not quite as old as me.  Ran almost silently, and the lights still work.  Really can't say a word against it.  OK, so brass wheels need a bit more cleaning, but so what?  Just wish that Lima had been brave enough to do working OHLE at about the same time when T-H were giving it up (ignoring Hornby's brief late-'80s or early-'90s dalliance), so that the sprung pans were more than just pretty additions?  I know that the Tri-ang EM2 is well-regarded and I'm certainly not going to carve mine, but am wondering whether the Lima E103 could become something a little more than it is, perhaps with Somerfeld pans, a Tri-ang wiring doagram (sic - I meant to type "diagram", but I'm staying with "doagram" because I think that I like it and I need to use that word not just here, but elsewhere) and a few guitar-strings.

Sorry for wittering on - to summarise and in short:

1 - Bachmann GS-4 looks fantastic but it doesn't "run", it just staggers.

2 - Tri-ang EM2 is still brilliant, particularly on coarse-scale track.

3 - Lima E103 is an unsung hero.

 

regards

cs

 

[SM42]

5 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Does the wall have a bit of a list now?

 

Yes. 

 

A little line of car symbols down the side

 

Andy

Who is up this early for a day shift

Edited 10 hours ago by SM42

[pH]

2 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

A GS-4? In the UK??

Next thing, you'll be mentioning an AC-9!

Not an AC-9, but I have seen a cab-forward running on a UK club layout.

[AndyID]

3 hours ago, Chris Snowdon said:

Yes indeed.  Motors, motors, motors...  Have been having "fun" over the past few nights spooling-up some old stock, prior to potential sale (disclaimer - I am not trying to trade here).

I am finding (still, again, and still) that regardless of flange-depth, much of my stock (whose age ranges from 1960s to 2010s) all seem to run quieter on Series 3 track and the HM2000 controller than on modern Code-100 and the same controller, with a couple of notable exceptions (including particularly a Tri-ang Brit, with an "as new" motor fitted a couple of years ago, and about 10h running on it since - this was almost silent when I last ran it, on the Duette and Series 3, a few weeks ago, but sounded like a blender full of marbles on Sunday night).  I am wondering whether the coarse-scale steel track has greater resistivity (due to greater cross-sectional area) and so that helps?  I have a multimeter but haven't tried wiring it into my test circuits due to lack of croc-clips.

I have also found a couple of outright failures to be fixed, and one which runs badly and smells "a bit funny" but a couple of tiny drops of bike-oil might just fix.

And at long last I got the *^&%ing Bachmann GS-4 running again.  But only in reverse.

Motors.  Electricity.  Painting.  Historical research.  We do this as a hobby.

 

No BIKE OIL! it will destroy any plastic. Only use oil that is compatible with plastic. In the US Labelle has a range of lubricants that are compatible with plastic. Dunno about the UK.

 

 

Edited 9 hours ago by AndyID
Typhoo

[AndyID]

3 hours ago, Chris Snowdon said:

  I am wondering whether the coarse-scale steel track has greater resistivity (due to greater cross-sectional area) and so that helps? 

 

 

It goes the other way. Greater cross-sectional area will have less resistance 😄

[Oldddudders]

1 hour ago, pH said:

Not an AC-9, but I have seen a cab-forward running on a UK club layout.

Still no AC-9, although I had also seen a cab-forward on a layout in 1971 - but I did buy a Y6b that year. Rivarossi sold both.

 

New legislation means all tips given by diners etc must be passed on to staff. Sounds great, but there's a catch. At Sherry's busy local - probably at least a dozen staff on duty at busy times - the employer has always had such a policy, so no change, you might think. Except now they become visibly taxable, so are worth less. Lo and behold, when you use the contactless machine, an option now comes up to add a tip - even if just buying beer and crisps!