The Night Mail

[jamie92208]

4 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Sadly mine is only 131' by 32'  with 753 sq ft hangar attached, though that is home to the barn owls.  The hens are in the 123 sq ft West wing.    I might just point ot that strictly a hangar is a shed with one wall open.in the winter there are several muddy hollows around the gatden. 

 

Jamie

There is one thing to point out. At the moment the east wing hangar is not available at the moment as it has four sitting, or should I say, roosting tenants in the form of a pair of barn owls and their two offspring.  All four are now flying in the daytime. 

 

Jamie

Edited July 30 by jamie92208

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

Sadly mine is only 131' by 32'  with 753 sq ft hangar attached, though that is home to the barn owls.  The hens are in the 123 sq ft West wing.    I might just point ot that strictly a hangar is a shed with one wall open. In the winter there are several muddy hollows around the garden. 

 

Jamie

I've often fancied overwintering somewhere slightly warmer.

 

I'll not turn up empty handed, I'll bring some pannier tanks with me!

[iL Dottore]

We’ve just made an offer on a house, in the region that the seller wanted. So barring any unforeseen mishaps. We will be buying a new house, with an underground workshop built in and a courtyard garden in the Japanese style.

 

I can now attain Shed Enlightenment.

 
To celebrate, I have penned a Haiku:

 

私は小屋の道をたどります。
機械は存在し、
道具は動き、
小屋は私の魂の工房です。

 

Watashi wa koya no michi o tadorimasu.

Kikai wa sonzai shi,

dōgu wa ugoki,

koya wa watashi no tamashī no kōbōdesu.

 

I follow the path of the shed.
Machines are,
tools move,
and the shed is the workshop of my soul.

 

I will now have to dispose of a whole underground lair’s worth of model railway stuff - keeping only what I need for the layout I’ll be building after the move. I have already boxed up all my Hornby, Dapol, Heljan and Bachman models (all 4mm) ready for disposal (a few locos are spoken for, but I’ve still got a lot more to “upcycle”) 

[bbishop]

Very hot in SE London.  I'm doing some desultory weeding with bail outs into the house.

 

This is the weather in which I appreciate a cold lager.  The Lidl products have a huge advantage over Sainsbury.  Lidl's Czech lager is actually brewed in that country.  Sainsbury sell Staropramen, a wonderful beer, except they import it all the way from Luton.  Actually most of the Sainsbury lager comes from Luton, is it the same brew in different bottles?

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

 

 

I follow the path of the shed.
Machines are,
tools move,
and the shed is the workshop of my soul.

 

 

You are going to feel so let down.

 

Once you get into Japanese gardening, you will have no time for anything other than raking the gravel, pruning the bonsai and keeping the moss in top form.

 

The workshop will just be full of rusty and unused machinery covered in dust, gazillions of cobwebs and a dumping ground for anything Mrs iD needs to store away.

Edited July 30 by Happy Hippo

[Winslow Boy]

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

il semble que le garçon de Winslow soit déterminé à rester une masse de prolétaires opprimés, exploités.

Il n'y a rien à faire pour aider certaines personnes

Eeh come again.

[Winslow Boy]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Well living close to the Broads, Q doesn't want the tide to really come in, otherwise he'll be able to sail from shed to shed

Would that be in his naval shed or just a floating shed. Asking for a friend.

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Sadly mine is only 131' by 32'  with 753 sq ft hangar attached, though that is home to the barn owls.  The hens are in the 123 sq ft West wing.    I might just point ot that strictly a hangar is a shed with one wall open.in the winter there are several muddy hollows around the gatden. 

 

Jamie

It's a good job your a foriner otherwise there would be trouble.

[Tony_S]

17 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

keeping the moss in top form.

When we were in Iceland, all the tour guides were quite clear about not walking on the moss, as it could take 50 years to recover.I did think about suggesting they try the stuff that grows very well on our roof. They are reluctant to,import any more plants after the Alaskan Lupin introduced to halt soil erosion has spread rather enthusiastically.  One guide had hoped to show us the Icelandic national flower but it was a bit late in the year, so I mentioned at least the lupins were flowering nicely. 

Edited July 30 by Tony_S

[Winslow Boy]

5 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

When we were in Iceland, all the tour guides were quite clear about not walking on the moss, as it could take 50 years to recover.I did think about suggesting they try the stuff that grows very well on our roof. They are reluctant to,import any more plants after the Alaskan Lupin introduced to halt soil erosion has spread rather enthusiastically.  One guide had hoped to show us the Icelandic national flower but it was a bit late in the year, so I mentioned at least the lupins were flowering nicely. 

Bet that went down well commenting on the lupins.

[Tony_S]

5 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Bet that went down well commenting on the lupins.

I had a chat about whales with one guide too. 

[Happy Hippo]

43 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I had a chat about whales with one guide too. 

What were his thoughts on the 20 mph speed restriction?

[Tony_S]

14 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

What were his thoughts on the 20 mph speed restriction?

I don’t know but there were some urban areas with less than that on Iceland. Unpaved gravel roads in rural areas are 50kph but that would be aspirational in some cases. We went on a Scania truck based coach on such roads.  The real off road vehicles in Iceland look like “monster trucks”. 

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

You are going to feel so let down.

 

Once you get into Japanese gardening, you will have no time for anything other than raking the gravel, pruning the bonsai and keeping the moss in top form.

 

The workshop will just be full of rusty and unused machinery covered in dust, gazillions of cobwebs and a dumping ground for anything Mrs iD needs to store away.

It depends.

 

Having become a connoisseur of all the various styles of the Japanese Garden, I have found - believe or not - various designs/styles that are really quite low maintenance. These will be adopted.

 

The added bonus is that as it is a walled courtyard garden, we won't have any unwanted visitors - flora OR fauna (insect life excepting).

 

Probably good for Lucy and Schotty as well, they are both getting on a bit to be chasing moggies out of their Garden...

[SM42]

I have an off road vehicle. 

 

The failed glow plug is playing havoc with other systems for reasons best known to the manufacturer. 

 

Net result, it is in for repair. The local garage got us on the road yesterday for the princely sum of £10, enough, to get it to a place with better facilities this morning. 

 

We came back by bus. The only bus of the day. 

 

One of Autosan's finest and quite modern as it had a powered door. 

 

Just the two of us and the driver aboard.

 

 

We will be going out by bicycle soon to where Poland,  Lithuania and Russia meet. 

A true test of my fitness it will be as this part of Poland is a bit lumpy

 

On Thursday we will probably be on the same bus at 0830 ( the only bus of the day)  back to Suwalki to collect the car. 

 

Andy

 

Edited July 30 by SM42

[Tony_S]

10 minutes ago, SM42 said:

We came back by bus. The only bus of the day. 

How did you pay? Matthew and some friends went to a conference near Bialystok. For the bus/coach from Warsaw to Bialystok they paid online. However they never found out how to pay for the local buses from where their conference was ( a bison research centre) to Bialystok. No one seemed to be offering money or showing cards as they boarded. 

[Northmoor]

3 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Eeh come again.

Don't worry, if it's the French I learned at school, it probably says "The pen of my aunt is in the garden".

[Northmoor]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

What were his thoughts on the 20 mph speed restriction?

They ignore all the signs, just blow some water in the air and splash the policeman and their speed camera before swimming away.

 

Reminds me of a joke I heard the other day:

A woman was chatting to me on the bus, she asked, "Got any pets?"

"Yes" I said, "a goldfish".

"Any hobbies?"

"Yeah, he likes swimming".

[Compound2632]

9 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Roman law and culture - despite being bastardised by Christianity - burrowed deep into countries across Europe. 

 

Rather as a consequence of, than degraded by. One can certainly see institutional Christianity as the continuation of the Roman Empire by other means. Both the word and concept of 'diocese' are derived from late Roman administrative practice. The liturgical garments worn by a priest in the Western Church are more-or-less the ordinary dress of a late Roman citizen. &c.

[Winslow Boy]

30 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

Don't worry, if it's the French I learned at school, it probably says "The pen of my aunt is in the garden".

Oh that's alright then. For a minute I fought he might be using his superior edukatshon to bambuzly me. Me being a poor boy of the soil and not having a shed and all- have I mentioned that before.

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

How did you pay? Matthew and some friends went to a conference near Bialystok. For the bus/coach from Warsaw to Bialystok they paid online. However they never found out how to pay for the local buses from where their conference was ( a bison research centre) to Bialystok. No one seemed to be offering money or showing cards as they boarded. 

Honour system probably - like we'll pay you when we get some money.

[Happy Hippo]

14 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Oh that's alright then. For a minute I fought he might be using his superior edukatshon to bambuzly me. Me being a poor boy of the soil and not having a shed and all- have I mentioned that before.

Di you ever build the shed I sent you?

 

It was rather magnificent, as it was a brick structure with a slate roof.

 

Perhaps you have built it and use it as a garden office or accommodation for visiting guests rather than just as a common and garden shed.

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Rather as a consequence of, than degraded by. One can certainly see institutional Christianity as the continuation of the Roman Empire by other means. Both the word and concept of 'diocese' are derived from late Roman administrative practice. The liturgical garments worn by a priest in the Western Church are more-or-less the ordinary dress of a late Roman citizen. &c.

The 5th century “fall of the Roman Empire” was really just a change of address from the forum to the Vatican. 

[SM42]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

How did you pay? Matthew and some friends went to a conference near Bialystok. For the bus/coach from Warsaw to Bialystok they paid online. However they never found out how to pay for the local buses from where their conference was ( a bison research centre) to Bialystok. No one seemed to be offering money or showing cards as they boarded. 

 

At the ticket office in the bus station. 

 

£2 each for a 19 mile trip. 

 

The bus stays here overnight to work the service back in the morning. 

 

I think the driver takes it home with him.

 

And

[SM42]

52 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Di you ever build the shed I sent you?

 

It was rather magnificent, as it was a brick structure with a slate roof.

 

Perhaps you have built it and use it as a garden office or accommodation for visiting guests rather than just as a common and garden shed.

 

Was that the Shed Aid one?

 

An audit may be required  

 

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

Honour system probably - like we'll pay you when we get some money.

 

More likely tickets were bought in advance and validated on board.

 

Tickets are often timed from validation, so there may have been time left on the ticket to complete the journey. 

 

Mrs SM42 and I once got from the far side of Poznan ( we were booking a band for our wedding) back to her parents on a 30 minute ticket one evening 

 

Validated on the first bus, change to tram and then change to a bus.

 

The bus pulled up at our stop as the 30th minute clicked over. 

 

Normally the time runs out whilst you are changing from  one bus or tram to another.

 

Poznan now has a pre paid card system too. Up to 99 people can travel on one card, but normally there is just two of us.

 

Andy