The Night Mail

[AndyID]

5 hours ago, DaveF said:

I went to the Tanfield Railway today, it is their annual "Run it Weekend" when everything that works gets run.  It was as enjoyable as ever with both passenger and freight trains in action.  It is one the few railways where you can still walk round the loco shed and other stock buildings as well as around the sidings in the yard.  They do stop people from walking across the track when they are moving things in the yard.

 

I realised today that I am getting older (I am only 75) as there was no one working on the railway that I know, they have all retired or died.  When I first started visiting some 44 years ago many of them were only 10 years older than me.  Now the new volunteers must be in their 30s (and some much younger)  - which is a very good thing as it shows there is a future for the line.

 

I also noticed, just as I sometimes do when I am the beach, that I am an "old person" and as such younger people think I might at some point need help.  It feels strange to notice people just keeping an eye on one when negotiating steps - or stepping over rails or treading only on sleepers as I walk along a siding.  I suppose I should be pleased that people I don't know do keep an eye on old people.

 

I won't comment here on the driving standards I saw on my journey, that is in Early Risers.

 

David

 

I'm that age too and I have noticed most people are very good at holding doors open for me etc. I think it's a recognition that if we are fortunate we are all going to "get up there".

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

I wouid quite like a hawthorne tree. There was one in an adjoining garden. It used to hang over the corner where our sheds are. It was full of birdies and we used to like seeing it change through the seasons. The person whose garden it was in couldn’t really see it and when some other neighbours asked for it to be removed as they didn’t like,the leaves fallling in their garden, it was removed. Poor birds just looked confused for a while. I did say I might move the sheds and plant a hawthorne and mentioned quite large mature trees were not that expensive…

 

We seem to live at the borderline between deciduous and "ever-green" trees (they shed their needles in Autumn too.) The firs and pines grow like weeds and pop up all over the place. Then there are the beautiful Larches. They look like firs but in Autumn their needles turn yellow and eventually drop. (Unfortunately some idiot loggers assume they are dead.)

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

 

Its the Random Fireworks season once again....

 

"bang bang bang" all evening!

 

And on and on for at least another three bluddy weeks...

 

 

At least it's not in the middle of fire season like it is here in July.

[AndyID]

One for HH. Sent from our daughter in Los Alamitos, CA

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

 

Mine came from Roots - https://www.rootsplants.co.uk/collections/all-trees - various species and types. 

 

I also have my (beady) eye on https://shop.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees - I will probably make a purchase from them shortly. I have a couple of spaces in an original Devon bank/hedge which they will fill nicely. 

 

(Usual disclaimer for both). 

 

Hawthorns are supposed to be good for wildlife and support all sorts of species. I like them, they are one of the smaller native trees and offer some colour in spring and autumn. I have some space here but don't have half an acre or more, so smaller/dwarf species are useful. I want to create a small spinney/copse, rich in wildlife friendly 'stuff' and good for shade - for me, the dogs and the railway... 

 

I was offered an ash tree by a neighbour, I would have loved to have it but they grow a bit more than I had room for. I could say the same about oaks... But then again, if I had the room for those, I'd probably be getting sidetracked with 7 1/4 inch garden railways! 

The majority of our hedge(s) is Hawthorn, with Holly, Guelder Rose, Dogwood and Elderflower thrown in for good measure, so a proper native species hedge.  It also contains Ivy  and Nettle(not by choice).

 

Oak trees are a pain in the garden due to the amount of leaves and other bits they shed: All though the year for good measure.  Ash is similar.  My advice would never plant a tree in the garden unless you are sure of it's size.

 

I'm not anti tree by any means and as well as the hedge plants we have a form of Pine, an Alder, Apple and Gage, Apricot, Cherry and Willow, and lets not forget the Acer(s) and the Box.  We also have a bonsai tree.

 

Originally the garden had crack willows, hornbeam a box hedge and Ash trees and a Silver Birch.

 

The crack willows were demolished when they became unsafe, as were the Ash trees.  The Ash were already on their last legs when we bought the place, the crack Willow were demolished after one decided to split in half during a big storm, and we had to get the police to close the road, so an urgent demolition could be safely carried out.  The Birch, which had been planted by the builder on top of an ornamental mound in the back garden, started leaning into next doors garden, so again was demolished on safety grounds.  The Box hedge got Box blight, so it was ripped out pdq and burned.

 

The last remaining crack willow was pollarded after it dropped a branch, narrowly missing me when I was working in the ditch.  Looking at it today, I'm not sure how much longer we can call it safe.  I stood  on it's crown last year when we were removing the epicormic growth and the trunk was moving:  Since it's about 2-3 ft in diameter it may be that the bank it stands on can no longer support it.  If it does go, because of it's shape, it will fall into the ditch.....Which is fine as long as I'm not in the ditch🤣.

 

Of course, it is subject to a council TPOI, and unless it becomes visibly dangerous we require planning permission for any major work  to be carried out. (Ditto the Alder and one of the Oak trees.

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

One for HH. Sent from our daughter in Los Alamitos, CA

With that in mind how about a bungee jump?

 

 

[Chris Snowdon]

12 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Really?  Can't imagine why...

 

I don't look like HH, nor do I have a green wheelie-bin, but I was bouncing on bags of garden waste last night with the same objective.  I really need to get a fork into the compost-bin

[Chris Snowdon]

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I wouid quite like a hawthorne tree. There was one in an adjoining garden. It used to hang over the corner where our sheds are. It was full of birdies and we used to like seeing it change through the seasons. The person whose garden it was in couldn’t really see it and when some other neighbours asked for it to be removed as they didn’t like,the leaves fallling in their garden, it was removed. Poor birds just looked confused for a while. I did say I might move the sheds and plant a hawthorne and mentioned quite large mature trees were not that expensive…

Yes, very spikey, but very good for birds.  At one point, had two male robins and two male blue-tits all  doing their avian machismo-thang in the same small garden.  Had to cut down a dead one a few years back, and the damson it was blocking has done quite well since, much to the delight of the effing grey squirrels!

[Chris Snowdon]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

We also have a bonsai tree.

Other than that, it sounds like you have a very big garden!

[SM42]

3 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

What did the violinist play for you when he came to your table?

 

Symphony in ERF. 

 

Andy

[iL Dottore]

On 19/10/2024 at 07:09, AndyID said:

Cripes! The roof on our abode is cream-crackered and the composition shingles are letting in enough moisture to rot the ply sheathing. It's "only" going to cost as much as a pretty decent new car to get it fixed but we really have no choice. We've opted for the slightly better version with transferable warranty that we can pass on to the new owners when we sell the place.

Good Grief - you have to spend the equivalent of a Bentley on your house. You must have one mighty abode…

[Happy Hippo]

4 minutes ago, Chris Snowdon said:

Other than that, it sounds like you have a very big garden!

The whole plot is roughly about 1/4 of an Acre.

 

The large trees are all on the boundary lines

[iL Dottore]

17 hours ago, SM42 said:

Falling in love with a place on holiday and buying property there can often lead to disappointment. 

As much as I love Japan and (most) all things Japanese, I’d never want to permanently move there, let alone buy a property. For one thing, no matter how well I learn Japanese, I would always be an outsider - which can bring its own problems.

 

Mind you, if you are as rich as Musk or Bezos, you can buy property anywhere and life would never be “tedious” as you would have plenty of well-paid staff that would remove any “inconveniences” that you might encounter…

[Happy Hippo]

8 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Good Grief - you have to spend the equivalent of a Bentley on your house. You must have one mighty abode…

Well if you think that Andy's guest annexe is called Coeur D'Alene, it might give you some idea of the size of his estate.

[pH]

14 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I ask you, how would you compress the green waste?

Since you ask - with a large breeze block.

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[TheQ]

Our hedgerow was allowed to grow out by the previous owners and mostly consists of large trees with nettle filled gaps between.

Oak and sycamore being the biggest trees. But there are hawthorn, elder, bullace, willow, and a few I don't know..

Internal to the garden are lots of pyracantha purpura, apple, pear, damson.

The apples and pears are in excess of 150 years old and many are full of woodworm, also not having looked after they need some serious pruning.

 

[Chris Snowdon]

30 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Our hedgerow was allowed to grow out by the previous owners and mostly consists of large trees with nettle filled gaps between.

Oak and sycamore being the biggest trees. But there are hawthorn, elder, bullace, willow, and a few I don't know..

Internal to the garden are lots of pyracantha purpura, apple, pear, damson.

The apples and pears are in excess of 150 years old and many are full of woodworm, also not having looked after they need some serious pruning.

 

My parents' house was one of several built around an old orchard, so we all had a few ancient apple trees in the back gardens.  When we took down the 1970s cypresses our apple trees suddenly got second wind and have been regularly trimmed since.  So, get a tree-surgeon (not just a hacker) in once for your apples and pears (gorblimey guv) and then see what happens.  They might look a bit bare the first year, and then really come on the year after.  Just don't try to do it yourself with a teenage hangover - I did but just got very lucky.

[jamie92208]

Trees, yes we have a few but the garden is quite large.  We had a big sycamore just outside the lounge window, 12' away. That was knocking on the wall so had to go.  There were three ash trees near the kitchen about 5' apart with two of them near the house so two came down and the third is now flourishing.  A fir had to go because it was interfering with the phone wires.  However there are still quite a few trees around. A copper beech, two silver birches and a row of larch along with the ash tree at the back.  When we arrived we had four large jungles with catoneaster, bramble, vines etc all intertwined with lots of ivy.  These were gradually cleared and we now have 4 hibiscus and two pyrocantha. As long as we keep the vine and ivy in check they look rather nice.  The ash and sycamore have burned well. 

 

Jamie

Edited 9 hours ago by jamie92208

[polybear]

8 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

No such luck here. 10% down. 50% at start and the balance on completion.

 

Try that here and you run the risk you'll not see them - or your money again....

[Dave Hunt]

We’re shortly about to leave deepest, windiest and rainiest Zummerzet after night stopping in a little bnb following yesterday’s S7 Group meeting at Mark. Further details will follow after our return to what I hope will be a calmer and less soggy North Hipposhire.

 

Dave

[DenysW]

48 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

our return to what I hope will be a calmer and less soggy North Hipposhire

That's not what the weather forecast implies. Apologies.

[Winslow Boy]

9 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

The majority of our hedge(s) is Hawthorn, with Holly, Guelder Rose, Dogwood and Elderflower thrown in for good measure, so a proper native species hedge.  It also contains Ivy  and Nettle(not by choice).

 

Oak trees are a pain in the garden due to the amount of leaves and other bits they shed: All though the year for good measure.  Ash is similar.  My advice would never plant a tree in the garden unless you are sure of it's size.

 

I'm not anti tree by any means and as well as the hedge plants we have a form of Pine, an Alder, Apple and Gage, Apricot, Cherry and Willow, and lets not forget the Acer(s) and the Box.  We also have a bonsai tree.

 

Originally the garden had crack willows, hornbeam a box hedge and Ash trees and a Silver Birch.

 

The crack willows were demolished when they became unsafe, as were the Ash trees.  The Ash were already on their last legs when we bought the place, the crack Willow were demolished after one decided to split in half during a big storm, and we had to get the police to close the road, so an urgent demolition could be safely carried out.  The Birch, which had been planted by the builder on top of an ornamental mound in the back garden, started leaning into next doors garden, so again was demolished on safety grounds.  The Box hedge got Box blight, so it was ripped out pdq and burned.

 

The last remaining crack willow was pollarded after it dropped a branch, narrowly missing me when I was working in the ditch.  Looking at it today, I'm not sure how much longer we can call it safe.  I stood  on it's crown last year when we were removing the epicormic growth and the trunk was moving:  Since it's about 2-3 ft in diameter it may be that the bank it stands on can no longer support it.  If it does go, because of it's shape, it will fall into the ditch.....Which is fine as long as I'm not in the ditch🤣.

 

Of course, it is subject to a council TPOI, and unless it becomes visibly dangerous we require planning permission for any major work  to be carried out. (Ditto the Alder and one of the Oak trees.

People tend to ignore trees, treating them much like a piece of timber. Unfortunately trees aren't like that at all and need to be looked after. Visual inspections can reveal a lot, if you know what to look for. I acquired that ability simply by experience, and paying attention when I dealt with qualified professionals, but I would in no way call myself an arboriculturist. There are though a lot of cowboys who think that just because they've bought a chainsaw there now a tree surgeon.

 

The TPO system although not perfect and open to abuse has saved a considerable number of trees. It does require knowledge to 'grease it wheels', something which is not always present.

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Try that here and you run the risk you'll not see them - or your money again....

I suspect that the 50% will be for materials and would only be released when they are on site. But I might be wrong. I've certainly run contracts where funds have been released based on that premise.

[Tony_S]

45 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

I suspect that the 50% will be for materials and would only be released when they are on site. But I might be wrong. I've certainly run contracts where funds have been released based on that premise.

I had a colleague who when he was driving round Romford would always be looking up at roofers working. This was quite nerve wracking for passengers. He was looking for the roofer who had gone off with his money and tiles. He never did find him. He was planning to kick his ladder away when he found him.