Early Risers.

[trisonic]

I think the 3 litre is the US equivalent of an 1100cc Vauxhall!!, but the cost did surprise me.  Your profession ('Famous Guitarist almost as good as Knopfler' surely?) will make a difference though, I appreciate that.  I'm careful just to say civil servant (which is true) not office manager of a young offenders team (also true) which probably halves my life expectancy and doubles the chances of having my car trashed!

 

Note - in 9 years I have never heard of any vindictive damage done by a client - or an assault. Verbal assault though....yes!

No, engines are no more encumbered (outside of California) than they are in the UK (and anyway I don't own an American engine). They are just as powerful.

 

I'm still paying way over $1K per annum for insurance but make up for it compared to the UK with Gas prices. I paid $3.13 (or £1.86) per US Gallon on Friday when I last filled up. The US Gallon is about .82 of the UK but even so I think we are still ahead of the game in costs.

 

Meaning it's too early for me to figure it out....but some figures I've just seen indicate that the equivalent to the US Gallon in the UK is currently $8.84 or over twice the cost. It's probably cheaper than that in the IoM.

 

Best, Pete.

Edited April 17, 2014 by trisonic

[Tony_S]

Note - in 9 years I have never heard of any vindictive damage done by a client - or an assault. Verbal assault though....yes! 

I had 25 years in the state education system and only one child tried to hit me. I actually felt sorry for him as he was a somewhat disturbed individual. I did have threats though, usually of the "I'll get my Dad to etc...". I used to offer them 10p to put in the school pay phone and get them now. No-one ever did.

I think I would have paid money to join the queue to slap one particular vice principal though. When I was ill and was basically being sacked for being too ill to work (I didn't have a problem with that) he kept on and on trying to prove/demonstrate my illness was somehow self-inflicted or caused by some weakness of character. I saw a photo of him recently and he looked quite unwell. I know I should be kind but I think I am allowed one person to not care about. 

Tony

[Oldddudders]

It depends what's in your roll.

In the early '80s, I worked in the South Eastern Division of BR. Divisions were abolished in 1984, but before that the BRB had undertaken a review to identify "Divisional Role", i.e. what value these organisations added to the industry. So I had a note on my notice board "Is the Divisional Roll ham or cheese?"

[Ian Abel]

Morning friends. I'm going to simply call this sequence perspectives/s*h*i*t happens - with some simple captions for context.

 

Yesterday at noon by the office downtown St. Paul - about +4.

This is truly "playing trains". In anticipation of opening the new light rail line they are running a LOT of trains a day. They say they are training staff, I say they're PLAYING!

 

Last night from the garage door as I set the "bin" out for the morning - about +-0

 

8AM getting the paper -1 and cloudy, as it is now

 

 

One "benefit" of not having a 3 or 4-day weekend here, is we don't suffer the stampede related to "anticipating a famine" that was referred to. That happens BIG TIME usually only before Thanskgiving in November, with a minor stampede prior to July 4th, where everyone is convinced the WORLD will run out of charcoal, hamburgers, hot dogs and buns if they don't buy them all first!

 

Enjoy your long weekend - I'll be here posting and working as per "normal" tomorrow

 

 

[colin penfold]

And at the wheeltappers and shunters social club tonight we have ham rolls, cheese rolls, rissoles and ar$eholes!!!

[Ian Abel]

In the early '80s, I worked in the South Eastern Division of BR. Divisions were abolished in 1984, but before that the BRB had undertaken a review to identify "Divisional Role", i.e. what value these organisations added to the industry. So I had a note on my notice board "Is the Divisional Roll ham or cheese?"

Boy, you ARE on a "roll"...

 

<-- grabs coat and hat and RUSHES out before I can be caught...

[New Haven Neil]

No, engines are no more encumbered (outside of California) than they are in the UK (and anyway I don't own an American engine). They are just as powerful.

 

I'm still paying way over $1K per annum for insurance but make up for it compared to the UK with Gas prices. I paid $3.13 (or £1.86) per US Gallon on Friday when I last filled up. The US Gallon is about .82 of the UK but even so I think we are still ahead of the game in costs.

 

Meaning it's too early for me to figure it out....but some figures I've just seen indicate that the equivalent to the US Gallon in the UK is currently $8.84 or over twice the cost. It's probably cheaper than that in the IoM.

 

Best, Pete.

 

 

I meant that 3 litres was a 'small' engine in the US, Pete!  A pal here has a 70's Olds (455ci - 7.4L) and an Escalade for daily driver (?? bigger!??)  :-)

 

Fuel here is more than the UK, as it has to be shipped over.  The tax breaks here are only on income and capital gains.  £1.44 a litre for diesel currently.

[Ian Abel]

I meant that 3 litres was a 'small' engine in the US, Pete!  A pal here has a 70's Olds (455ci - 7.4L) and an Escalade for daily driver (?? bigger!??)  :-)

 

Fuel here is more than the UK, as it has to be shipped over.  The tax breaks here are only on income and capital gains.  £1.44 a litre for diesel currently.

Neil,

  In the grand scheme of things - overlooking the soccer-moms in their battle-cruisers at Starbucks - in the years I have been here there has been a more recently significant trend towards smaller engined/more efficient cars. Nowhere NEAR the rest-of-the-world because of the low gas prices, but still a significant trend IMHO. I honestly don't think I know more than a handful of folks owning behemoths now, except for a couple of contractors who have the huge pickups potentially justified for business.

Certainly it USED to be (see 70s - 80s) that everything had a huge engine, but far smaller percentage now, thankfully.

[trisonic]

Neal,

Right! I'd love one of those Olds. Odd thing is I've seen more old Olds Toronados in the UK than over here (you know -  the big front wheel drive 2 door coupe).

The "Escalade is known as the "Pimp's Truck" over here - specially if either  white or black.... My daughter wants a Mini (German variety, alas).

 

Both Ford and Chevy are making nice cars again now as are Chrysler/Dodge, 'Course  any of their Pick ups have alway been the best and really unmatchable by the Japanese. Sweeping statements I know.

 

Btw the BMW Nine - T is being heavily TV advertized, is it just me? The wheelbase seems very short? Did you manage to test one?

 

Best, Pete.

[Ian Abel]

Ahh, an old Olds <sigh>.

My first car in Minnesota (in New York I had a '64 E-Type that I will FOREVER regret selling on, I picked it up from a guy in Brooklyn for $1000 because it needed a new clutch and he couldn't tune the three SUs to save his life!), was a '64 Corvette 327cu in/365 hp beastie with side-pipes in place of a quieting muffler/exhaust system...

 

AND my "beater" for the days I didn't want to drive the Corvette was an early '70s Olds Custom Cruiser station wagon. Folks used to laugh (I was still single then and a station wagon wasn't the type of car they expected me to own), until I showed them the 455cu in Olds Rocket V8 under the hood (bonnet). If you removed the air cleaner and blipped the throttle you could watch as it literally POURED gas into the 4-barrel carb throat and the engine roared, THAT was fun!!!

If I had no crap or people in the car I could beat most anything away from a light by leaving it in low gear and flooring the thing, it took off like a "rocket" Of course it only got about 10 mpg the way I drove it

From '75 until they stopped making them we owned a succession of Olds wagons, but they gradually lost the will-to-live as each major makeover they'd reduce the size of the engine.

Edited April 17, 2014 by Ian Abel

[Tony_S]

I can see why Aditi thought my being in "waiting for deliveries" was a good idea as it meant I could do all the household jobs, including the dreaded task of dusting the shelves in the dining room display cabinet. That would be easy but the removal of all the display items somewhat adds to the time. The daytime state of such shelving is something she wouldn't normally notice being out at work. Then it was cleaning the bathroom tiles she couldn't reach. I then thought I'd pop out to the model shop for some glue and ended up collecting sacks of mushroom compost "while I am at the garden centre". At least it wasn't farmyard manure this year. 

Aditi is off soon to the hairdresser and will be back about 9.30. I'm sure there won't be any suggestions for jobs to complete while she is out...

 

Tony

[The Stationmaster]

In the early '80s, I worked in the South Eastern Division of BR. Divisions were abolished in 1984, but before that the BRB had undertaken a review to identify "Divisional Role", i.e. what value these organisations added to the industry. So I had a note on my notice board "Is the Divisional Roll ham or cheese?"

I had to be very careful what I put on my office noticeboard as Brian Perren (a railway journalist) was a regular visitor and always read whatever was on the noticeboard and the whiteboard: I don't think he ever figured out why I had the times/calling points for the Berlin - Moscow through train on my noticeboard, in Russian script.

Edited April 17, 2014 by The Stationmaster

[Barry O]

Thanks for the support. Before anyone in Barnsley is visited can they cough up the dosh to fix the bumper please?

 

Two sugars. ..keep waving it will keep you warm!

[Tony_S]

Thanks for the support. Before anyone in Barnsley is visited can they cough up the dosh to fix the bumper please?

 

My SiL is currently looking for a new car. Her Galaxy was rear ended by a pickup truck in Norfolk last week. They thought it was just a bumper dent but when I saw it I prepared them for what the man from the insurance company was likely to say. Aditi's sister doesn't really want to drive round in a seven seater bus so is keen to get something smaller "like a Golf". However her husband is being "difficult". They went to lots of car traders and he basically just said what he wanted (he does have his own car anyway) and is insisting that she gets something load carrying (for picking up offspring from uni) and is Diesel, automatic and has cruise control and a comfy seat for his bad back. Also she wants nearly new and he kept talking to the new car salesmen. Also he then said it should wait as his horoscope currently doesn't favour signing any documentation. At this point I somewhat expressed my opinion, telling SiL she was 59 years old, earned more all by herself than we have as household income, it was the 21st century and we aren't in India. At which point MiL chipped in with information that her female relatives in India purchase their own cars too! Surprisingly I was considered to be helpful, though BiL wasn't there!

 

Tony

[PhilJ W]

 I then thought I'd pop out to the model shop for some glue and ended up collecting sacks of mushroom compost "while I am at the garden centre". At least it wasn't farmyard manure this year. 

 

Tony

So your a regular customer at Pound Lane then?

[Tony_S]

So your a regular customer at Pound Lane then?

I believe in supporting local (model) shops. I used to have to travel to Chelmsford and would still pop in if over that way but Locolines at Pound Lane is just so near! Easy parking too. Though not many model shops have their own defence force parked outside.

[New Haven Neil]

Ah, the Oldsmobile - Ian will love this - it's a Delta 88 Royale - convertible, '72 I think, with a 455 V8, black with a white top. neat.  Known as 'Das Boot'. It's very long and black.....

 

Pete, the Escalade is.... also black!  Tony is a highly respected Santa Fe modeller though, not a pimp!  A retired insurance inspector in fact, for cranes, railway locomotives, things like that.  A good friend for many years.

[Ian Abel]

Ah, the Oldsmobile - Ian will love this - it's a Delta 88 Royale - convertible, '72 I think, with a 455 V8, black with a white top. neat.  Known as 'Das Boot'. It's very long and black.....

 

Pete, the Escalade is.... also black!  Tony is a highly respected Santa Fe modeller though, not a pimp!  A retired insurance inspector in fact, for cranes, railway locomotives, things like that.  A good friend for many years.

The Delta 88 is what the Custom Cruiser was based on - so that engine is proably as close to EXACTLY the same one I had, it may even say 455 Rocket on the air cleaner if it's still the original - if the carb is about the size of an original Mini it is "the one" 

[New Haven Neil]

Yup, deffo has '455' on it anyway - I haven't seen it for a few years, when we visitied a few weeks ago we went out in the pimpmo Escalade.  The Olds fair goes for a big old car, but too quiet for my tastes, no discernable V8 rumble.

[NGT6 1315]

Evening all! Lots of new impressions to process this week, so I'm glad we could get away to Prerow till Sunday. Currently enjoying the peace and quiet of night-time at the Baltic coast with some beer and nosh.

[Oldddudders]

At this point I somewhat expressed my opinion, telling SiL she was 59 years old, earned more all by herself than we have as household income, it was the 21st century and we aren't in India. At which point MiL chipped in with information that her female relatives in India purchase their own cars too! Surprisingly I was considered to be helpful, though BiL wasn't there!

 

 

Brilliant intervention, Tony! Empowering diffident women is a most gratifying pastime. And trying to suppress trad cultural issues ditto. Lovely!

[Tony_S]

Brilliant intervention, Tony! Empowering diffident women is a most gratifying pastime. And trying to suppress trad cultural issues ditto. Lovely!

Aditi's sister can be really assertive but not at home. She never seems to get to do any of the fun things she would like to do if her husband (he isn't Indian!) isn't interested. MiL often uses excuses for something saying "it is not the Indian custom to..." to which all her children and older grandchildren reply "we aren't in India!".

[Jock67B]

Good evening all, back to the more mundane - survived Morrisons this afternoon without injury (other than to the wallet) but at least now SWMBO seems happy. If IlDottore is looking in - the Macallan has gone and so have resorted to a present which has surprisingly lasted since Christmas - 'The Balvenie' matured in Carribean rum casks for 14 years and I have to report that the first sip of tonight's night cap is extremely pleasant. Should ensure a good nights sleep and build strength for tomorrow's egg delivery round! Best wishes to everyone for a pleasant Easter and don't forget that if you do manage a 'barbie', make sure the chicken is well cooked!!

Kind regards,

Jock67B.

PS - still no cigar though!

Edited April 17, 2014 by Jock67B

[DonBradley]

Good Good Friday morning to you all.

Bright, sunny and a cool 24C promised with no rain forecast until Monday.

I am interested to see what is on the menu for lunch.

By my calculations we are due for Lasagne, but since they broke routine to serve Fish on Ash Wednesday, I am hoping for a similar dispensation today.

It's a 4 day weekend here too, though it makes no difference to us retirees.

I hope you have a good one.

[Debs.]

The Collies and I, are off out to support the local interfaith "Walk of Witness" on this Paschal morning.

 

Best wishes for your day!