The Night Mail

[BoD]

The  North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s steam gala started today and runs over the weekend.  It looks worth a visit, if only for the fact that Sir Nigel Gresley has returned to steam if nothing else, so I may pop down tomorrow. Having said that, seeing the crowds on their webcams today, I may not. I will see how I feel come the morning.

[bbishop]

Just back from Germany after a fortnight without electronic communication.  Anything important happen whilst I was away?  

Bill

[SM42]

A reasonably productive day here at SM42 Towers. 

 

Various odd jobs have been done. Builder has finished the snagging works.

Flooring has been delivered ( v heavy, all 27 packs) and is now stacked indoors rather than where it was left on the drive. 

 

I've dug  some PVA bonding out of the shed, ready for tiling of the kitchen floor to begin, which involved emptying half  the shed to get to it

 

Whilst I was in there I've moved the winter wheels nearer the door, so now I only have to move the lawnmower to get to them.

I really should have put them there back in May, rather than right at the back.

 

Finally a bit of high finance work ( paying the credit card bill ( ouch) ) and some other admin jobs  

 

I've still only got about a third of the jobs list done. 

 

As I'm on a 24 hour turnround between shifts  it will soon be bedtime, so the lounge ceiling won't get painted today as planned. 

 

Andy

[New Haven Neil]

1 hour ago, BoD said:

The  North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s steam gala started today and runs over the weekend.  It looks worth a visit, if only for the fact that Sir Nigel Gresley has returned to steam if nothing else, so I may pop down tomorrow. Having said that, seeing the crowds on their webcams today, I may not. I will see how I feel come the morning.

 

That was me, that was.  It wasn't mad busy, unless you were trying to get into the Pullman set, which had one coach for punters, the rest were booked seats.  This was not actually mentioned anywhere.....

 

The Galloping Sausage was indeed in attendance, looking a bit glum in matt black.  Lucie was out playing with a few troublesome trucks too, under the care of her owner Piglet, but not mentioned in the timetables dished out.  Canny day though, visiting Standard 5 speaks with a very loud bark, but seemed at its limit on the 1 in 49 with 7 MK1's.  Slow climb but plenty of steam, but boy does she woof.

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, BoD said:

The  North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s steam gala started today and runs over the weekend.  It looks worth a visit, if only for the fact that Sir Nigel Gresley has returned .....

Hallelujah!  He has risen!

[New Haven Neil]

21 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Hallelujah!  He has risen!

 

Some recognition that, coming from a GW bloke! 🤣

[polybear]

6 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Some recognition that, coming from a GW bloke! 🤣

 

Big H has finally seen the light......

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

Nyda insisted she pay to get an en-suite in the new muddy hollow. Her generosity knows no bounds:

 

[Winslow Boy]

Your house trained then Big H. That's good.

[newbryford]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

 

If the weather is good tomorrow we might go and visit Tatton Park.  I fancy a day out, but not so much the drive up the M6.

 

 

 

I have to drive down the M6 tomorrow, then either the M1 or M42/M40 to the M25 and around it to somewhere near, but not quite the M23.

 

Then a return repeat on Sunday.

 

I may be gone some time.

[newbryford]

2 hours ago, bbishop said:

Just back from Germany after a fortnight without electronic communication.  Anything important happen whilst I was away?  

Bill

 

Chelsea FC have a new manager.

[Oldddudders]

14 minutes ago, newbryford said:

 

I have to drive down the M6 tomorrow, then either the M1 or M42/M40 to the M25 and around it to somewhere near, but not quite the M23.

 

Then a return repeat on Sunday.

 

I may be gone some time.

Leatherhead? Reigate? Dorking? All haunts from my/our yoof. 

 

We will be M5 and M6 tomorrow, we are in Tewkesbury tonight, then off to Crewe in the morning. 

 

For someone awaiting heart surgery, Sherry is doing quite well this week. On Sunday she drove us 100 miles from Chez Moi to Caen for the ferry. Monday 160 miles from Portsmouth to Torquay. And next Monday the full 230 miles from Crewe back to Torquay. I would happily drive her car - but her insurer is unimpressed by my (clean) French driving licence. 

[newbryford]

21 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Leatherhead? Reigate? Dorking? 

 

 

One out of of three is good.....😉

[polybear]

2 hours ago, bbishop said:

Just back from Germany after a fortnight without electronic communication.  Anything important happen whilst I was away?  

Bill

 

43 minutes ago, newbryford said:

 

Chelsea FC have a new manager.

 

And Prince Charles has been promoted.

[Tony_S]

23 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

happily drive her car - but her insurer is unimpressed by my (clean) French driving licence. 

A few years ago MiL when she was still driving wanted to add her brother (US citizen) to her insurance when he was visiting her one summer. That didn’t seem possible but he got insurance to drive the car. I have no idea how much it cost but possibly cheaper than hiring a car which was the other alternative. 

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

 but her insurer is unimpressed by my (clean) French driving licence. 

 

Perhaps you are too a droite?

[Oldddudders]

8 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

Perhaps you are too a droite?

Or too much of a prat?

[jamie92208]

10 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Big H has finally seen the light......

 

 

Not quite he hasn't yet gone full Midland.

9 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Leatherhead? Reigate? Dorking? All haunts from my/our yoof. 

 

We will be M5 and M6 tomorrow, we are in Tewkesbury tonight, then off to Crewe in the morning. 

 

For someone awaiting heart surgery, Sherry is doing quite well this week. On Sunday she drove us 100 miles from Chez Moi to Caen for the ferry. Monday 160 miles from Portsmouth to Torquay. And next Monday the full 230 miles from Crewe back to Torquay. I would happily drive her car - but her insurer is unimpressed by my (clean) French driving licence. 

Perhaps they aren't impressed by the 12 points on it.

 

Jamie

Edited September 23, 2022 by jamie92208

[coastalview]

9 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Leatherhead? Reigate? Dorking? All haunts from my/our yoof. 

 

We will be M5 and M6 tomorrow, we are in Tewkesbury tonight, then off to Crewe in the morning. 

 

For someone awaiting heart surgery, Sherry is doing quite well this week. On Sunday she drove us 100 miles from Chez Moi to Caen for the ferry. Monday 160 miles from Portsmouth to Torquay. And next Monday the full 230 miles from Crewe back to Torquay. I would happily drive her car - but her insurer is unimpressed by my (clean) French driving licence. 

Have you tried any of the day rate insurance companies as I know some of them accept non UK licence holders?

[jjb1970]

I couldn't hire a car in the UK in August. I don't have a UK address and because I have no intention of driving here I never bothered getting a Singaporean license. I need to do that before my next visit home in case I need a car. It's funny, not so long ago I loved cars and the idea of being carless would have been a terrible thought, now I really don't miss it and have very little interest in the things. 

[rockershovel]

On 20/09/2022 at 23:45, Happy Hippo said:

Membership of the RVO is at the personal behest of the monarch rather than the usual committee of civil servants. That same committee would downgrade the MBE to a BEM due to their junior rank within the military.

The pall bearers at Sir Winston Churchill's funeral received the MBE. There were two parties, from two different regiments and also a group of dignitaries who walked in front of the coffin as honorary pallbearers, including Lord Mount batten. 

 

However a number of protocols were broken at that occasion (particularly relating to Royal attendance). 

 

State Funerals are rare events and they are all different. 

[jjb1970]

On Chinese production, at a certain point you get what you pay for. That rule doesn't hold any more fast than it does for consumer goods and is a huge generalization but equally genuine quality tends to carry a price and if something is dirt cheap there may be a good reason for it. But there are plenty of Chinese businesses that are decent, honour contracts punctiliously and have a commitment to quality. I was lucky, maybe because the yards and owners using Lloyd's Register were a step (or a few) above the bottom I always had a good relationship with the Chinese yards and engine builders. And in terms of technical capability they were rapidly closing the gap with the Koreans (who for many years have been the gold standard in that industry). That's not to say there weren't some...ahem....interesting aspects to the Chinese yards or that they were perfect but the ones I dealt with were very correct in delivering what they'd been contracted to deliver. Therein lay one of the reasons for friction weirdly, there's an old adage 'if you buy **** don't be surprised if you get ****', there were quite a few owners who whinged because the yards delivered exactly in accordance with contract as they seemed to want something better. As with anything else, you need to be an informed customer, over and over again customers would misinterpret things and accept clauses such as 'meet LR class rules' as a quality standard then complain because they wanted something more. I would then get dragged into the dispute and be the bearer of bad news - 'it's approved and meets class rules. which is what you agreed'.

Something about China is that I often find many judge China according to the worst aspects, at the same time as looking at the best of other countries. Admittedly I'm a sinophile so am biased in my own way, but while I'm not oblivious to the negative aspects of China I also see a lot to admire. 

[rockershovel]

On 22/09/2022 at 06:08, iL Dottore said:

Apart from the British aversion to “intellectuals” (which may or may not sometimes be justified) there is also denigration of many highly skilled professions by the sharp elbowed upper middle classes who dominate British society - you know, the ones who, from the comfort and safety of their very expensive London houses, tell everyone else in Britain what to do and think.

 

God forbid that their little Tarquin or little Cressida go into “trade”. Electronic Engineering? Rather they become heroin addicts (OK, I exaggerate a wee bit). Many of the ex-pat Brits who I’ve met over the years here in Switzerland, and who have been engineers, technicians, etc., have said that not only are they paid much much better in Switzerland than they would ever have been in the UK, but they also get a damn site more respect and recognition than they would in the UK.

 

Part of this respect, I think, is down to the rigourous apprenticeships and technical education that various professions (denigrated as “trade“ “in the UK“) have to go through in order to be qualified. This is well recognised by the Swiss and, as this summary article shows, strongly supported by the government, kantons etc.  (https://hospitalityinsights.ehl.edu/swiss-vocational-education-training-model) The other thing is that whilst the Swiss have (like any other country) various social circles, they also have various vereins such as the Basel Fasnachtsclique where people from all walks of life socialise. In such vereins you are judged on who you are, not what you are (I get the impression that there are far fewer rigid social silos in Switzerland than in many other countries). Certainly my social circle here in CH is a lot, lot wider than it ever was in the UK.
 

I can't comment on Switzerlsnd or the Swiss, don't know the place but I must be quite blunt about one thing. 

 

I have encountered quite as much, often quite blatant exclusion and discrimination from Europeans in European companies (often through the medium of language or not having passed through their specific education system) as from any "sharp elbowed middle classes" at home, partly because not working in finance or the BBC, Tarquins and Jocastas don't tend to be a problem for me. 

 

I would have signed away any rights to work in Europe with no reservations at all, if I could have gained rights to work in Canada and USA instead. Looking at staff movements at my (Dutch) erstwhile employer/contractor, I see I am far from alone in this. 

 

Interestingly enough , they have employed British staff for the project I am now on, in consequence of the combined effects of IR35 and Brexit. I wasn't interviewed but I'm presently working for the Client so wasn't eligible. 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2022 by rockershovel

[jamie92208]

It's getting sunny here in the Charente.  The large holes in the garden have been filled in and the Fosse Septique is gradually  filling up to the point where it starts to work. The two new pumps are installed and when enough wzter has been passed through the system will work when needed. I am working on that...

 

Not a lot is being asked of me today as Beth is a bit k nackered after a trip to A and E last night.  Her blood sugar tanked and she ended up semi comatose despite all the various emergency  remedies. The health care was fast and superb. I'd rung the emergency  number for advice and spoken to a doctor. He had said, don't wait for an ambulance just get to hospital pdq.  I complied and when we got there the staff were waiting for us having had a fax from the call centre. No questions asked, straight to resus and a glucose drip inserted within 5 minutes. Superb. We got to bed anout 03.00.  Just one problem, she's talking again.  You can't win em all.  

 

If the promised rain arrives tonight we will have a large patch of mud in the front farden where the soakaway has been covered over.  No LDC here though

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, rockershovel said:

can't comment on Switzerlsnd or the Swiss, don't know the place

I suspect they are quite open about who can and can’t work there if it is anything like purchasing property. I noticed signs on all the property we saw being built that stated whether or not the property could be purchased or rented by non nationals, residents etc. My nephew who lives and works in Zurich didn’t seem to have any problem finding somewhere nice to live though. 

Edited September 23, 2022 by Tony_S