The Night Mail

[Tony_S]

13 minutes ago, SM42 said:

currently taking advantage of the power  by having having cold beer  

I managed to include a mention of Newton’s Law of Cooling when talking to Aditi about her cup of tea this evening. She didn’t seem that impressed. 

[PupCam]

3 hours ago, Willie Whizz said:

Staying for a few days with friends in Mid-Wales. Awoke to a BBC online weather forecast that promised us wall-to-wall sunshine the whole day. Dressed and went out accordingly. The reality has been wall-to-wall cloud through which the sun has never once peeked. But the BBC website still shows “Scorchio!”

 

Wouldn’t mind so much but we had the same happen for three days in succession on a short break in Jersey in the Spring. With all the technology available in the second decade of the 21st Century, why can they not even get this stuff right in “real time”, let alone as a forecast for the day ahead.
 

And these people want us to believe they can predict with a high degree of certainty what the climate will be like in 50 years time?  Somehow I don’t think so …

 

We rely mostly on "Nowcast" - We look out of the window and see what's happening now and that is the weather.  So far it has been 100% accurate.

 

WRT weather forecasts / forecasters.   The ONLY bit of a weather forecast that is actually difficult or tricky when forecasting is the timing.      Each and everyone of us can predict that:

 

                 It will be sunny

                 It will be cloudy

                 It will rain

                It will be foggy

                It will be Icy

                It will be windy

               It will be calm

 

The only thing we don't know is exactly when and they can't even tell us that a lot of the time!

 

33 minutes ago, SM42 said:

Apparently this weather is unprecedented and then they announcement it has happened 4 times before that September has been this warm

 

Unprecedented is becoming like next, completely misused or just misunderstood. 

 

 

And in the same way:               " XXX* Greatest Hits!"               

and then along comes             "XXX* Greatest Hits!  Volume 2"  

 

* Insert name of favourite band

 

Now if the first bunch were the greatest hits, then the second bunch can't be greatest hits and if the second lot are actually better than the first lot then they lied 'cos the first lot weren't the greatest after all.

 

There's so much to put right with the world where on earth do we start?     Wikipedia and Facebook I suppose ......

 

 

 

[skipepsi]

36 minutes ago, figworthy said:

 

An interesting collection of names.  You could argue that some of them are on the GC's patch (Leicester, Nottingham, Lincolnshire as well as London).  The one that slightly confuses me is Sir B.G.D. Sheffield, who is listed as Normanby Park, Doncaster.  I thought that Normanby Park was on the outskirts of Scunthorpe (definitely GC territory).

 

Adrian

Scunthorpe wasn't there at the time IIRC.

Edited September 7, 2023 by skipepsi
Slightly inaccurate it existed but was very small

[newbryford]

23 minutes ago, PupCam said:

And in the same way:               " XXX* Greatest Hits!"               

and then along comes             "XXX* Greatest Hits!  Volume 2"  

 

* Insert name of favourite band

 

Now if the first bunch were the greatest hits, then the second bunch can't be greatest hits and if the second lot are actually better than the first lot then they lied 'cos the first lot weren't the greatest 

 

 

 

Shouldn't the second one be "Greater Hits"?

[Dave Hunt]

The met office can forecast accurately as long as the exact starting conditions are available. That's the problem as a very slight change in the starting conditions can have a fairly big impact on the future and even with satellites and all the other technology available there are sufficient areas where the met conditions are not really accurately recorded, hence the forecast can be adrift. It is also the case that local conditions can be affected by local topography and other factors such as the location of built-up areas, factories, bodies of water etc. so that the general forecast of an area can be quite good whereas looking out of your window might reveal differences that can be quite marked. 

 

As an aside, when I was stationed in Singapore in the late '60s there were so few reliable weather monitoring stations in the far East that the forecast each morning was simply the average of the weather that particular day for the last twenty years. It was amazingly accurate!

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

I was recently given a two CD collection that claims to be the greatest hits of the 60s - ever. Whoever collated it, I don't think that they were alive in the 60s or, if they were, they didn't listen to the same music that I did.

 

Dave

[DaveF]

2 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

I was recently given a two CD collection that claims to be the greatest hits of the 60s - ever. Whoever collated it, I don't think that they were alive in the 60s or, if they were, they didn't listen to the same music that I did.

 

Dave

 

Your post has just reminded me of a leaflet which came through my door yesterday from The Quay, a local pub/club, near the harbour.

 

It was advertising retro music evenings - the music will be from the 80s, 90s and 00s.  The leaflet mentioned someting about dancing to the music you heard when you were young.

 

The only thing is that almost everyone living near me is in their 60s or 70s so I don't think any of us will be going.  Now if it was 60s music....

 

David

[MrWolf]

The Memsahib and I got dragged off to an 80s night a couple of weeks ago. They didn't play anything that we like from the 80s at all. Nothing but the cheesy, camp, pop  garbage I hated in high school. 

 

Not too cringeworthy as it wasn't my idea, we both like all kinds of music from all sorts of eras, despite being a 70s kid and a 90s kid respectively.

 

Though if I had a pound for everyone who thinks we listen to nothing but heavy metal just because we ride  motorcycles.) but unless you're very selective, you end up being subjected to the Jive Bunny version of everything.

[SM42]

56 minutes ago, newbryford said:

 

Shouldn't the second one be "Greater Hits"?

Perhaps there wasn't enough space on the first to fig em all in. 

 

Anyway, how do you define greatest hits? **

Chart position? How high is the cut off?

Do you stop with stuff that didn't make the top 200?

 

Maybe it's just a ruse to keep us buying. 

 

Andy

 

** available in all good record shops,

 

and the bad ones too no doubt

[MrWolf]

Or as Mark Radcliffe used to say on late night radio 1, "Remember! This record is NOT available in the shops! - Because it's s**te...."

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[BR60103]

I've had an idea that I'd like to check out.

Scale newspapers for newsstands.

I'm not sure if they could be produced readable in scale. but we could have generic headlines:

Phew, What a Scorcher.

It's THAT MAN again!

England loses again.

 

 

any others?

 

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, BR60103 said:

I've had an idea that I'd like to check out.

Scale newspapers for newsstands.

I'm not sure if they could be produced readable in scale. but we could have generic headlines:

Phew, What a Scorcher.

It's THAT MAN again!

England loses again.

 

 

any others?

 

How about:

Landslide victory!

Strike action today!

Queen opens hospital

Test Match: Rain Stops Play

Edited September 8, 2023 by iL Dottore

[AndyID]

Weather forecast here seems to be quite accurate. Probably has something to do with being situated in large landmass.

 

Our freezer kept us entertained for a large chunk of the day. It really needed to be defrosted so we removed the contents and put some hot water containers in it and some warm air from a small fan heater. That went swimmingly, literally, because of all the melt water. But no problem because the freezer resides in the garage under the house.

 

Dried everything off then turned the freezer back on. It ran for a few minutes then popped the GFI (ground fault interrupter AKA earth leakage detector) and it kept popping it every so often. We were beginning to think the freezer was kaput but I thought I better try it on a circuit that does not have GFI. It seemed to run without issue on that so I left it running that way for a while and eventually reconnected it via the GFI. It's been running that way since, no problem.

 

I think what happened was all the ice melting had provided a electrical leakage path somewhere in the wiring but once the freezer had been running for a while that moisture dried and the leakage path no longer existed.

[polybear]

6 hours ago, SM42 said:

Maybe it's just a ruse to keep us buying. 

 

Andy

 

 

Cynical.  Very, very cynical.

Dr. Bear diagnoses the cause to be a sudden deficiency of paint fumes. 

Don't worry, Bear can fix it - an urgent prescription has been sent to SWMBO; just take it down to your local Shed and they'll dispense the necessary.

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a warm Charente.  Apparently we are going out to pick Sloes this morning.  Gin is on standby for use later.  

 

Jamie

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

How about:

Landslide victory!

Strike action today!

Queen opens hospital

Test Match: Rain Stops Play

 

Other suitable headlines for the 70s:

Power Cuts. Latest!

Bin Strike Continues!

 

Just now, jamie92208 said:

Good moaning from a warm Charente.  Apparently we are going out to pick Sloes this morning.  Gin is on standby for use later.  

 

Jamie

 

Sloe Sloe

Quick Sloe Sloe

 

(And that's without the gin...)  🤪

 

 

[SM42]

4 hours ago, BR60103 said:

I've had an idea that I'd like to check out.

Scale newspapers for newsstands.

I'm not sure if they could be produced readable in scale. but we could have generic headlines:

Phew, What a Scorcher.

It's THAT MAN again!

England loses again.

 

 

any others?

 

 

" Body found in graveyard"

 

"World War Two bomber found on moon"

 

"Blimey! It's a football team"

 

Andy

 

[Compound2632]

23 hours ago, bbishop said:

I'll ask the question in TNM, knowing we have three Midland Railway enthusiasts who can answer for their railway.  

It is apparent, from my research into the London & South Western Railway, that some directorships were regional.  So there would be a director representing Devon, another Dorset, another Hampshire. There was always a couple of bankers and, after the acquisition of Southampton Docks in 1892, a couple of shipping magnates.  But were the regional directorships typical of other railways?

 

Sorry, bit late to this but this is from the Midland's Reports and Accounts for the half-year ending 30 June 1890 [Midland Railway Study Centre item 17916]:

 

 

Quite a geographical spread - I note the additional grist to the mill of my pet subject, the Midland in Berkshire. I suspect that what this represents is the places in which there were people with large shareholdings, which in turn could be the districts in which the railway originated, i.e. the East Midlands. I suppose Mr Beale or his father had retired to Waltham St Lawrence from his Birmingham banking business.

 

I think Farrer became a director later than this. 

Edited September 8, 2023 by Compound2632

[Happy Hippo]

7 hours ago, BR60103 said:

I've had an idea that I'd like to check out.

Scale newspapers for newsstands.

I'm not sure if they could be produced readable in scale. but we could have generic headlines:

Phew, What a Scorcher.

It's THAT MAN again!

England loses again.

 

 

any others?

 

When Rob Bennett and I were on the exhibition circuit with Wrekin Havock (7/8" to the foot on 1.75" gauge track), the interior walls of the target shed were covered in 12 months worth of Mayfair magazine centrefolds.

 

I was forever hopeful that one of the many ladies who spotted these, would utter the phrase....

 

Good God that's me!

 

Most of them said to their husband...

 

Come over and see this!

[Dave Hunt]

7 hours ago, BR60103 said:

I've had an idea that I'd like to check out.

Scale newspapers for newsstands.

I'm not sure if they could be produced readable in scale. but we could have generic headlines:

Phew, What a Scorcher.

It's THAT MAN again!

England loses again.

 

 

any others?

 

HALF INCH OF SNOW - BRITAIN SHUT DOWN

 

70 DEGREE HEATWAVE - BRITAIN MELTS

 

MORE TRAINS SEEN WITH WRONG HEADCODES 😊

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

6 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

When Rob Bennett and I were on the exhibition circuit with Wrekin Havock (7/8" to the foot on 1.75" gauge track), the interior walls of the target shed were covered in 12 months worth of Mayfair magazine centrefolds.

Have you cancelled your subscription yet?

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

Last night a group of us ex-schoolmates and spouses, fourteen in all, had a Zoom gin tasting and quiz evening. One of the quiz rounds was on the Beatles so given that all contestants were Liverpudlians and the men had attended the same school as Harrison and McCartney the scores should have been quite high. The winning score?  3/10.

 

Dave

[newbryford]

48 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

When Rob Bennett and I were on the exhibition circuit with Wrekin Havock (7/8" to the foot on 1.75" gauge track), the interior walls of the target shed were covered in 12 months worth of Mayfair magazine centrefolds.

 

I was forever hopeful that one of the many ladies who spotted these, would utter the phrase....

 

Good God that's me!

 

Most of them said to their husband...

 

Come over and see this!

 

We had this on Blackmill -only visible from the operator side.

[Hroth]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

Last night a group of us ex-schoolmates and spouses, fourteen in all, had a Zoom gin tasting and quiz evening. One of the quiz rounds was on the Beatles so given that all contestants were Liverpudlians and the men had attended the same school as Harrison and McCartney the scores should have been quite high. The winning score?  3/10.

 

Dave

 

How far into the quiz was the Beatles round?