Early Risers.

[Ashcombe]

Lovely lunch with Ian at Bagnoles de l'Orne, with the slightly inclement weather failing to destroy the romantic ambience!

 

Great to hear good news about Don. Please pass on my best wishes, Tim.

Edited September 21, 2014 by Ashcombe

[southern42]

Final clearance and cleaning of the caravan and taking it back to storage. Summer's over.

 

Bright but cool. And so's the weather.

 

Sandy's starting on her GIS course from Oxford, so peace for the next ten weeks or so. Good job she's not reading this.

 

Have a good day, all.

 

Summer will be over for us next week when the boat comes out onto the hard. 

Can't complain though, not only did we get out for a sail a few times this year but I managed to helm with the gammy arm to boot.

So next year the well, my   plan is to get out of the Strait and perhaps get round Anglesey, down the Llyen Peninsula to Porth Dinllaen (once proposed as the port to Dublin though Holyhead got the job in the end) or even up to the Isle of Man for the trains. 

 

Lots of modelling grass and vegetation to keep me occupied until then though.

 

And.... ... Is it safe?....I drew up another plan for Great West Road "on the back of an envelope" while taking a break out in the sun which means (he says   ) it might get built (sooner than the last one, anyway).  In other words, it will fit in one of the rooms which the current plan doesn't.

 

Sailing will soon be forgotten - until Easter, anyway.

 

F1 shortly which means I'll have to put the kettle on. 

 

Enjoy the rest of your day.

 

Polly

 

Edit typo

Edited September 21, 2014 by southern42

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Finally back on the air, and sorry to say that 14 pages is just a tad too much for me to read to catch up. 

 

Had a lovely few days away, despite having to contend with some pretty bad weather in West Berkshire - just missed the worst of the massive thunderstorm which affected a swathe of the country from about Savernake to Bath, and which affected the rail services and also knocked out the electricity in quite a few places in Berks and Wilts - in Newbury, we could see the lightning, and we got torrential rain for about 45 minutes, but further West it seems that this storm was a bit of a humdinger.

 

Managed to pick up in a charity shop in Shrewsbury a copy of Adrian Vaughan's "Classic Days Western Engineman" which when I opened it was signed and dedicated to Russell for his help and support - I think that this may have been an author's copy to Russell Mulford, who contributed a number of photos to the book - quite an interesting find indeed and there were also quite a lot of fairly esoteric railway related items also on offer there - old conditions of carriage, signalling handbooks etc.  Can anybody in ERs shed a light on why this collection should be in the Cat's Protection shop?

 

Also, when I got home, I found this in my inbox, the latest offering from a young and highly talented American musician, whom I think I've mentioned here before, but which I think deserves to be shared as he's an up and coming guy, who seems to know no boundaries in terms of his musical styles and production, so I'll share it here with you to see what you think?

 

 

Sorry, but as dinner calls, and also I am totally knackered having driven up yesterday from Newbury with only 50 miles of Motorway (I was warned that the M40/42/5 are all a bit horrendous so I went A4/417/49/M6) but with the first two hours being in thick fog as we rose at 5 am and were on the road before six, so I'm pretty exhausted, I can only offer generic wishes to everybody.

 

If there's anything that I really need to know over the last few days can somebody just add a note to enable me to catch up.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[Oldddudders]

Yes, at the risk of being repetitive and boring, lunch was a great success - and Sherry insisted on paying as I'd driven 60 miles to be there! We had patronised the bistro at the same time before, but had perforce to sit at separate tables and ignore each other! French secondary roads on such a Sunday are delightfully under-crowded, and you can really enjoy driving even if you stick to the limits, which I do most of the time. The weather is due to clear up for a few days, but a few raindrops hardly hindered our tryst today.

 

May I join the throng in again thanking Tim for his efforts in keeping us up to speed. Good to hear Don is being properly cared for, even if things weren't quite right first time. We look forward to his early return to form, and tales from the refectory etc. His table-companions must be missing him, too - at least those who know what day it is!

 

Lewis & co are on the Beeb shortly - fingers crossed!

[Smiffy2]

 

 

Take a truck - you're allowed 90 litres of wine per person and another 20 of fortified wines. Could be a great wine tasting...

 

But I hardly ever drink!

I think a few bottles, one of which must be a Gevrey Chambertin. Going for quality not quantity!

[Coombe Barton]

Van back in storage - equinox to equinox - next scheduled to come out in March.

 

Now to cut the lawns - got.a bit long.

[petethemole]

Which reminds me; Mabon (Autumn Equinox) greetings to all.

 

Pete

[NGT6 1315]

Sleepy cats:

 

 

 

Must really be something about sleeping so much because I suppose they wouldn't do it if there weren't!

[The Stationmaster]

Hope to go on Saturday but I won't be troubling the traders not because Mrs B might make the trip but because we are skint.

I think my version of 'skint' refers to days allowed out, plus laddo wants a day out for a birthday lunch on the Sunday so somehow I doubt I'll make it despite my liking of the venue.  

 

Great news fr Don - hope the road to recovery keeps rolling for him.

 

PS No pics from Chinnor notwithstanding a nice afternoon out as i suspect photos of cab pipework runs and carriage warming valves might not be everybody's cup of tea; ideal for modelling detail of course so mission accomplished in that respect.

[Barry O]

been nice here... built "tea" including Yorkshire Puddings.. all devoured by the Herberts!

 

Been busy fixing 3 link couplings, regauging wheels and glueing things back on a number of wagons...  and then I have been posting "surplu" stock on flea bay... and yet more to come .. but if anyone is interested I have a little list which can be PMd....

 

Busy Baz

[Ian Abel]

 

Must really be something about sleeping so much because I suppose they wouldn't do it if there weren't!

Indeed - Bob only managed to open his eyes briefly as the flash went off - I had to apologise quickly before he got "angry"  lazy sod, I mean it IS the middle of the day...

 

 

Thanks TIm for the Don update, sounds like he's doing pretty well, all things considered

 

Was around 10 when I got up and retrieved the paper this morning - lovely day, partly sunny and light breeze, possibility of 19 they say...

 

Busy doing the "kitchen finishing" tasks as commanded  invited  asked   whilst Mrs and daughter headed out to the annual "ladies baseball day" with my MiL.

This year they decided that rather than attempt to take her to the stadium as she's 96 and a bit slow walking (last year was the first year it was a bit of a struggle) they had the novel idea of having it in the party room at her assisted living place. There's a big screen TV, they took hot-dogs, popcorn and root beer, so they'll be all set...

 

Also, "sssshhh, mums the word", while they're gone I'm heading over to the hobby shop quickly to get a few yards of track for the layout and going to try and multi-task, while kitchen glue dries etc., by laying some roadbed and track!

 

Enjoy what's left of your Sunday

[New Haven Neil]

evening. Great to hear Don is recovering, thanks again to Tim for his update.

 

A scorching day here, like August!  Had a nice ride out to the South for brunch, then spent the afternoon....on the layout!  Laid some new sidings and re-insatalled some trackwork that I had removed pending a change in track plan that didn't work out. D'oh.  Still, a return of some modelling mojo was welcome, it's been in the doldrums for two years since the hip episode and recovery.  It just didn't come back as I recovered, no idea why.  So oddly I'm now busy fitting DCC to various OO locos, but working on my US layout.  

 

Just setlled down to watch the GP - box of tricks hadn't recorded it, despite me seeing the record flag was showing earlier. Grrrrrrrr.

[Tony_S]

Photos of a sleeping Robbie are quite rare. Being a spaniel of the "Wow, that is just so exciting" temperament having a camera pointed at him makes him rush towards the camera at high speed! The picture at the top of my  Facebook page(also posted here as my avatar  photo) was only taken thanks to a 40x zoom lens!

Tony

Edited September 21, 2014 by Tony_S

[southern42]

evening. Great to hear Don is recovering, thanks again to Tim for his update.

 

A scorching day here, like August!  Had a nice ride out to the South for brunch, then spent the afternoon....on the layout!  Laid some new sidings and re-insatalled some trackwork that I had removed pending a change in track plan that didn't work out. D'oh.  Still, a return of some modelling mojo was welcome, it's been in the doldrums for two years since the hip episode and recovery.  It just didn't come back as I recovered, no idea why.  So oddly I'm now busy fitting DCC to various OO locos, but working on my US layout.  

 

Just setlled down to watch the GP - box of tricks hadn't recorded it, despite me seeing the record flag was showing earlier. Grrrrrrrr.

 

Neil, some of the things I was capable of before I broke my arm still haven't come back.   Apart from any physical problems, it seems that my brain just went into hibernation so that I could cope with the immediate situation and gradually woke up as things improved.  It's only this year that I've been able to read a whole model railway article in one go, take it in and even be critical.  The first 18 months, I only seemed to be able to focus on pictures and a very small amount of text.  Sometimes, this lack of brainpower was right frustrating, at others it was quite pleasing - like just being somewhere rather than trying to learn everything there is to know about the thing or place.  Thankfully, I had Ray to manage those parts my brain couldn't. 

Really great you're getting back into some modelling, Neil, and hope it all comes together again. Maybe this start will be enough to get you back into it.

 

Polly

[Tony_S]

Neil, some of the things I was capable of before I broke my arm still haven't come back.   Apart from any physical problems, it seems that my brain just went into hibernation so that I could cope with the immediate situation and gradually woke up as things improved.  It's only this year that I've been able to read a whole model railway article in one go, take it in and even be critical.  ...

Polly

I think I know what you mean. One of the reasons I'm so grateful to RMweb I can keep on my interest in trains even when I can't cope with much else. One advantage of my layout being banished to the garage is that it is always waiting for me!

[skipepsi]

A nice bit of Karma today cleaning out the outside animals for son far away when a noisy aeroplane approached, looking up there were two Lancasters in close formation not a sight I am likely to see ever again. 

[New Haven Neil]

Yes, mine is in the garage too, it has to be, we live in a 2 bed bungalow!! - our last house unless we win the lottery).  Our old cavernous Edwardian house had plenty layout space, but ate all our spare money so my 14 foot square room full of S&D never really came to much due to lack of cash.  Money is a bit easier now, (or was until I retired!) but the motivation completely deserted me after the long lay-up awaiting, and having surgery.  I didn't have the shut down Polly decribes, but just couldn't transfer the mental modelling to physical activity. Read plenty, thought plenty - did nothing! 

 

Having thought a little more (smell burning?) the reason for all this is most likely work associated, retired end of June, mojo arrives back a couple of months later? Hmm......

[Coombe Barton]

Updating iPhone and iPads to IOS8. Taking an age to download.

Edited September 21, 2014 by Coombe Barton

[Smiffy2]

Took an age on the iPad (Version 2) yesterday but was quick on the iPhone 5 today. Probably depends on traffic at Apple's end.

 

Haven't seen much benefit yet, apart from the iPad slowing down - probably needs a few thousand photographs being taken off to ease the memory.

[Tony_S]

Brain picking time request.

Aditi would like a lightweight laptop / notebook /ultra book for work use (ie not for playing games or watching films). It doesn't need any optical drives but long battery life and a vaguely "real " keyboard would be good. She has looked at my ancient Samsung 10 inch netbook and would be content with something similarly sized. The device must be able to cope with substantial Word and Excel documents and be able to transfer and work on such documents produced on Windows versions of Office including Office 2010, 2013 and some Office 365. Aditi is used to saving in the appropriate version of Office.

 

I have been looking and a Macbook Air would satisfy a lot of her criteria. It looks hardware-wise to be quite good value. If I can cope with Apple's attempt at a user friendly OS (I have a Mac Mini with Mavericks)  I'm sure Aditi could. However I am genuinely confused about Office 365. I know it is available for Macs PCs tablets etc. I know it is subscription based but what exactly happens at the end of the years subscription. Do the latest versions of the software packages still remain, is it just cloud based files that are then "inaccessible" and does 365 require regular internet access, ie if we took the computer on a cruise to somewhere remote would the 365 software work ?

 

I have looked at the Office pages and I'm confused and I would appreciate any ER comments. I suspect the combined wisdom of ER is more likely to get me a more sensible/unbiassed answer than PCworld or even the Apple Store! I'm sure you know why I'm asking this on ERs first rather than a general query the wi(l)der territory of Wheeltappers

[Tony_S]

Updating iPhone and iPads to IOS8. Taking an age to download.

Expect to be unimpressed! I think the changes are subtle. My iPod is slower but I think it may possibly just be the first time it runs an app after the OS upgrade. Anything on the iPod isn't exactly "mission critical" but there was a noticeable delay before stuff worked. I'm sure they will tweak it in the next few updates.

[Smiffy2]

I'd go for the Air. I know a couple of users and they like them a lot. I regret going for a MacBook instead, and I'll get one when I replace the one I'm typing on at the moment.

 

As to Office, don't bother. Get iWork (Pages and Numbers, replacing Word and Excel). Shallow learning curve, and more capable (Pages also does DTP). If you need Powerpoint there's Keynote, which is also an improvement. And they are dirt cheap, completely compatible with Microsoft (except for some notes in Pages if that's important and a couple of features in Numbers - but you get free updates with Apple).

 

Using iCloud also makes huge sense if you have more than one Apple device, as does Photostream in iPhoto and similar in iTunes, which I don't use.

Edited September 21, 2014 by Smiffy2

[Tony_S]

I'd go for the Air. I know a couple of users and they like them a lot. I regret going for a MacBook instead, and I'll get one when I replace the one I'm typing on at the moment.

 

As to Office, don't bother. Get iWork (Pages and Numbers, replacing Word and Excel). Shallow learning curve, and more capable (Pages also does DTP). If you need Powerpoint there's Keynote, which is also an improvement. And they are dirt cheap, completely compatible with Microsoft (except for some notes in Pages if that's important and a couple of features in Numbers - but you get free updates with Apple).

 

Using iCloud also makes huge sense if you have more than one Apple device, as does Photostream in iPhoto and similar in iTunes, which I don't use.

Thank you. The compatibility with Office generated documents is apparently crucial. It is the standard used at the college and Aditi needs to have software that works exactly the same. They do a lot of editing of each others work and need to keep track of changes, need to keep citations formatted the same. If the the Mac versions of Word and Excel don't behave identically that would be enough to be a no no. The cheapness of the software isn't an issue for her (and it is her own money not the colleges!).  The interesting thing is that the Mac seems the best value and best suited to the task, in the same way that I bought a Mac Mini as it was good value for what I wanted at the time. I'm not anti iWorks. I've got it on my Mac but I'm still slightly confused as to how Office 365 functionality compares to Office 2013 or Office for Mac

[Smiffy2]

The only time I've ever needed to annotate a Word document in Pages, export as Word and send it back the recipient said she couldn't see the notes, but I wasn't totally convinced. I've certainly been able to see annotations and changes made in Word and then opened in Pages.

Given the price difference it's worth giving the Apple Store a call. I think it may well work.

[bbishop]

Guys,

 

I've received an e-mail purporting to come from "The London Mint Office".  It's scam, but who do I advise?

 

Bill