The Night Mail

[br2975]

An enjoyable evening at the monthly meeting of the RCTS South Wales Branch.

.

This month saw the annual 'Rowland Pittard memorial Lecture" - a former member and veritable South Wales railway encyclopedia.

.

Nigel Wassell  gave an illustrated talk on the 'Beeching' closures of June 1964 in South Wales, especially the Vale of Neath line, and the bottom part of the Central Wales (no one over 40  calls it the Heart of Wales) twixt Pontardulais and Swansea Victoria.

.

Al topped off with some excellent bargains from the pre-owned bookstall.

[pH]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

… one of the great fracture lines of US society: Krispy Kreme Donuts vs Dunkin Donuts

Irrelevant in Canada (though there are/were stores of both chains). Timmy’s rules!

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Hortons

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[polybear]

7 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

Eviction laws in the US vary a lot from sate to state. We had a small flat near Park City that we rented out for a few years but before we did I talked to a Utah solicitor to find out what Utah was like. Turned out it wasn't a problem there. He told me they'd be out in two weeks max 😀

 

But what will the place be like when you do get it back....that is the question.....

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

But what will the place be like when you do get it back....that is the question.....

 

There wasn't a problem.  We decided to sell it and we financed the loan to the buyer. Unfortunately they financed a better rate and bought us out 😀

 

(A major reason for buying the place was so that we could ski with my best-man from Paisley and he could use the place any time he and his wife  liked.)

 

He died from a heart-attack about a year later. He had not been feeling well and I've never forgiven the NHS.

 

 

[iL Dottore]

10 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

* one of the great fracture lines of US society: Krispy Kreme Donuts vs Dunkin Donuts

8 hours ago, pH said:

Irrelevant in Canada (though there are/were stores of both chains). Timmy’s rules!

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Hortons

The US is definitely the trendsetter when it comes to fast food (from burgers to pulled pork to “donuts”). Now I’m on record as being emphatically against UPF and - unfortunately - that includes most of the fast food available nowadays in the UK and US (not so much in other countries with a strong street food culture), but that wasn’t always so.

 

Back in the late 70s, the US (at least where I lived) had some pretty decent fast food joints - many of which being “mom and pop” kind of places where things were fresh and sourced locally (it usually being much too expensive for a “Mom and Pop” place to buy most ready-made items - especially as the labour costs of fresh prep not being an issue as Mom, or Pop, would do all the work). Even the big chains (like Krispy Kreme) produced locally*. The food was often very local, in terms to what was produced: a barbecue pork sandwich in Virginia being definitely a very, very different beast to a barbecue pork sandwich in, say, Texas.

 

Now, it was undoubtedly not very healthy, but the good stuff was very tasty indeed. Interestingly, the big multinational chains (like B King or Mickey D) were never amongst the top rated fast food joints in local polls. Equally interesting is the fact that those top rated chains didn’t/don’t have an ex-US presence.

 

Thinking about those days and thinking about possibly re-experiencing a typical hospital shift meal,  I realised that I do have the wherewithal to make a “poor man’s burger” (i.e. cheaper than a hamburger) which is the “Bologna Burger” or “Baloney Burger” - Bologna Sausage (or Baloney) not being Mortadella, but rather something like Lyoner. A late night staple at the hospital canteen.
 

A thick slice of Baloney is griddled on a plancha and then served on a toasted hamburger bun. Not healthy, I agree, but sometimes the only thing available late at night - just before the hospital canteen closed. Being young, foolish and carefree (often synonymous) and facing a double shift (evening & nights), it went down a treat. That, and unlimited coffee from the ER’s always-on-the-go coffee urn, kept one going until end of shift at 08:00. After which a “sausage and biscuit” breakfast awaited (and then bed).

 

What is quite curious is that although, at the time, I was a poor student and my diet was certainly very heavy in carbohydrates and fats, I was quite thin indeed; not quite as skinny as a rake, but certainly in that general ballpark. The (few) advantages of being young…

 

Contemplating the above, makes me realise that whomever came up with the statement “youth is wasted on the Young” was spot-on!

 

* the production facility for the local area’s Krispy Kreme donut shops was near the ambulance station, so periodic early morning visits to snaffle up the donut “rejects” (misshapen, irregular sized, too little jam or cream filling) were not unknown.

 

Edited June 20 by iL Dottore
Typos

[Happy Hippo]

A brief Trayne Klubb session this morning, where we attempted to cut out some 12 mm ply end plate for the baseboard ends.

 

The ply might be ok for flooring, but on close inspection, I found that the factory edges were anything but straight or at 90 degrees to each other.

 

Cunning plan is now to take one of the two spare baseboards I have left, and chop it down to the required dimensions:  Then just add a new end plate.

 

This will leave me with a 3' x 2' and a 4' x 2' set of boards.

 

The smaller will  get a further slicing session to make up various jigs and fixtures for my routers, whilst the single 4' x 2' will make a very handy work bench top.

 

I can replace the current folding legs with some more substantial permanent legs:  come to think of it, I could also build extra shelving underneath the work top.

 

Don't you just love recycling?

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

Back in March our  external gas meter stopped recording our consumption.

 

I found this out when the energy company requested a meter reading.

 

I raised the issue with them, and they acknowledged this, but by early May, having heard nothing, I chased the matter up.

 

Again they acknowledged, and asked for a picture of the external meter to help them.

 

This was sent as quickly as possible:  within 10 minutes of receiving their email..

 

Today I was asked for another meter reading, so I pointed out that the meter was still not functioning and what were they going to do about it?

 

I decided I would copy the CEO of the company into the conversation, and put a footnote on the email to this effect.

 

I then received a further email requesting... You've guessed it, a photo of the meter!

 

I apologised in advance for being a bit short, then pointed out I had a smart meter, so they knew what my consumption was, and why in hell's name would they want another picture of the external meter which is still reading blank.

 

I then went on to mention the company's apparent inability to read what has been sent to them, prior to replying, and suggested that the CEO, whom I had copied into this message as well, might like to go and poke some people with a short pointy stick in order to get the issue resolved.

 

It's all gone very quiet for now.

[polybear]

42 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Back in March our  external gas meter stopped recording our consumption.

 

I found this out when the energy company requested a meter reading.

 

I raised the issue with them, and they acknowledged this, but by early May, having heard nothing, I chased the matter up.

 

Again they acknowledged, and asked for a picture of the external meter to help them.

 

This was sent as quickly as possible:  within 10 minutes of receiving their email..

 

Today I was asked for another meter reading, so I pointed out that the meter was still not functioning and what were they going to do about it?

 

I decided I would copy the CEO of the company into the conversation, and put a footnote on the email to this effect.

 

I then received a further email requesting... You've guessed it, a photo of the meter!

 

I apologised in advance for being a bit short, then pointed out I had a smart meter, so they knew what my consumption was, and why in hell's name would they want another picture of the external meter which is still reading blank.

 

I then went on to mention the company's apparent inability to read what has been sent to them, prior to replying, and suggested that the CEO, whom I had copied into this message as well, might like to go and poke some people with a short pointy stick in order to get the issue resolved.

 

It's all gone very quiet for now.

 

Book, Play, Film, T-Shirt.  Let's just say their loss was far greater than someone I know......😉.

I did try...and try....and try......

[AndyID]

50 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

might like to go and poke some people with a short pointy stick in order to get the issue resolved.

 

It's all gone very quiet for now.

 

Failing that a pointy stick with a hardened steel tip, or, you could suggest to the CEO how they might lower their payroll without skipping a beat 😀

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

Back in March our  external gas meter stopped recording our consumption.

 

I found this out when the energy company requested a meter reading.

 

I raised the issue with them, and they acknowledged this, but by early May, having heard nothing, I chased the matter up.

 

Again they acknowledged, and asked for a picture of the external meter to help them.

 

This was sent as quickly as possible:  within 10 minutes of receiving their email..

 

Today I was asked for another meter reading, so I pointed out that the meter was still not functioning and what were they going to do about it?

 

I decided I would copy the CEO of the company into the conversation, and put a footnote on the email to this effect.

 

I then received a further email requesting... You've guessed it, a photo of the meter!

 

I apologised in advance for being a bit short, then pointed out I had a smart meter, so they knew what my consumption was, and why in hell's name would they want another picture of the external meter which is still reading blank.

 

I then went on to mention the company's apparent inability to read what has been sent to them, prior to replying, and suggested that the CEO, whom I had copied into this message as well, might like to go and poke some people with a short pointy stick in order to get the issue resolved.

 

It's all gone very quiet for now.

Now now my young hippo don't blame the messenger they are just doing what the computer tells them. This is one of the great benefits of A I it is more intelligent than the person doing it's bidding. As my aunt used to say put sh1t in, you'll get sh1t out.

[AndyID]

3 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Now now my young hippo don't blame the messenger they are just doing what the computer tells them. This is one of the great benefits of A I it is more intelligent than the person doing it's bidding. As my aunt used to say put sh1t in, you'll get sh1t out.

 

She did have a way with words.

[Winslow Boy]

7 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

She did have a way with words.

And she wasn't necessarily taking about computers although her foresight was remarkable.

[AndyID]

Should you happen to see wasabi baked green peas under no circumstances buy them. They are completely addictive.

[J. S. Bach]

Night owl from the Piedmont.

[jamie92208]

8 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Now now my young hippo don't blame the messenger they are just doing what the computer tells them. This is one of the great benefits of A I it is more intelligent than the person doing it's bidding. As my aunt used to say put sh1t in, you'll get sh1t out.

Had she been putting good horse manure on her growing vegetables. 

 

Jamie 

[Hroth]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Had she been putting good horse manure on her growing vegetables. 

 

Jamie 

 

My Great Aunt always found that racehorse droppings* worked well on her rhubarb!

 

* Some may have been from Red Rum....

[Happy Hippo]

4 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

My Great Aunt always found that racehorse droppings* worked well on her rhubarb!

 

* Some may have been from Red Rum....

I always found that using horse manure on my veg patch gave me the trots.

[bbishop]

6 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I always found that using horse manure on my veg patch gave me the trots.

I can't a-gree.

[Winslow Boy]

10 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I always found that using horse manure on my veg patch gave me the trots.

My Mr Hippo what big trotters you have.

[Canal Digger]

Neigh Lad (as in 'No' said with a stereotypical Northern Accent) it doesn't  

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Had she been putting good horse manure on her growing vegetables. 

 

Jamie 

I believe it was an election year when those immortal words were uttered. Sadly departed many years ago, but at least it's good to know that something's don't change.

[iL Dottore]

For those of you grumbling about the cost of the latest Hornby/Bachmann/Dapol/Heljan offering:

 

https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/luxury/article/train-sets-times-luxury-vqtlbmqkc?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Luxury 2024 June 21&utm_term=audience_LUXURY

 

or

 

https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/luxury/article/train-sets-times-luxury-vqtlbmqkc

The age of the £100k train set

Train sets used to be either for the very young or the very old, but the new high-end kit — including smoke machines, tiny instrument panels and bespoke livery options — has widened their appeal

[Happy Hippo]

6 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

For those of you grumbling about the cost of the latest Hornby/Bachmann/Dapol/Heljan offering:

 

https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/luxury/article/train-sets-times-luxury-vqtlbmqkc?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Luxury 2024 June 21&utm_term=audience_LUXURY

 

or

 

https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/luxury/article/train-sets-times-luxury-vqtlbmqkc

The age of the £100k train set

Train sets used to be either for the very young or the very old, but the new high-end kit — including smoke machines, tiny instrument panels and bespoke livery options — has widened their appeal

My father was so rich he offered to buy me British Railways as an eighteenth birthday present.

 

I declined, as I'd asked for a train set, not a cowboy outfit.

Edited June 21 by Happy Hippo

[DaveF]

Yesterday evening I was watching a video on You Tube of preserved railcars/locos and coaches on a special working on the MOB (Montreux Oberland Bernois) in Switzerland.  There were some pleasant clips of the train and modern ones from the lineside.  The locos and railcars were swopped round at intervals which made it more interesting.

 

Towards the end of the video there were scenes of the stock being shunted at Montreux.  The four coaches went by, no loco, making their own way into the platform, being fly shunted.  They stopped a little bit short so several men then proceeded to push them along the platform.  After that a preserved MOB railcar and RhB loco came out of a siding and backed on to the train.

 

All the time there were people walking about, often on the track taking photos as well as other trains coming and going.

 

I suppose it is no different from the rakes of coaches and sometimes individual baggage cars I used to see moving towards the buffer stops at Zürich with no engine, just one man in the rear coach controlling the brakes.

 

David