Early Risers.

[Killybegs]

Is it just me or is everyone getting a larger type face on postings? Makes it a lot easier to read!

[beast66606]

I think it's just you

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

If my feet are cold I am cold, if my feet are warm I am warm

Also set a man a fire and he's warm for a night, set a man on fire and he's warm for life. 

[gordon s]

I must be ill….

 

When golfing I'm wearing a long sleeve/polo neck thermal shirt plus a lambswool jumper plus a windproof wool jumper plus another jumper on top.  A pair of golfing trousers plus a pair of windproof waterproof trousers, thermal socks and a thermal hat (essential for those of us with more hair on our hands than our head!).  I start off at 13 stone and finish at 16 stone by the time I get to the first tee….:-)

 

Spent the day wrecking an earlier version of ET, drinking coffee, watching Newcastle v Chelsea, drinking beer and now catching up with ER's with a block of extra strong cheddar and a lovely Rioja.  I think I've died and gone to heaven.

 

Wood burner is working well and shorts and tee shirt are the dress code for dinner.

 

Lovely to see the Black 5's.  I missed them on Thursday…:-(

 

Glad to hear you're both in the clear now Old D's and Sherry.  I shall look forward to seeing the pics...

[Jock67B]

Afternoon all,

Managed to cut the grass after the first frost of the year (last night) so I'm suffering now but it looked so awful that I just had to do it. Three degrees outside at the moment (that would make Prince Charles happy!).

Does anyone know who 'multiprinter' is, he put indecipherable on Martin's post #78847 - hopefully it was fat finger syndrome and not a troll follower Martin!

Beast, thanks for the lovely shot of the 'Black5s', they looked splendidly turned out! Took your advice at lunchtime and waved goodbye to the 57s as they left here. Perhaps they can now get on with cleaning them.

Mike(60860), looks like Johnnie Walker were pushing the boat out in the gardens, that much motor racing talent normally comes with a hefty price tag, unless of course they are all philanthropic when it comes to supporting such a safety issue?

Stewart, I knew that story about 'Mad McCann - read it alongside a picture of the man in the book 'On Glasgow & South Western Lines' with pictures by Derek Cross, with the book being posthumously presented by his son. Apparently Derek could vouch for the veracity of the tale as he actually rode on the footplate of the 'Clan' that day! A truly lovely book with one image in particular that stood out - a shot of young David, leaning out of a 'Black5' cab in Ayrshire, aged ten. Reminded me so much just how lucky I was to have such experiences when not much younger than him! I wonder if our own 'Mad McCann' could enlighten us as to how he made his choice of avatar, simply to please two old Ayrshire men?

Neil, I'm very pleased to hear that the inquest was conducted so professionally - hopefully that is one of the last of the hurdles that Jayne and yourselves will have to get over. Sounds as if you had tremendous fun with your erstwhile work colleagues and you must have found the gift especially moving.

Trev, I am sad to agree with your post, but at my age I most certainly do remember Henlys. I regret to recall that their reputation was a bit tarnished, the usual issue of maintaining standards of quality service when a company grows so rapidly! No doubt after the time of our ERs involvement!

Ian, in case I forget, I would like to wish you a safe and uneventful journey into the warm embrace of Assistant Director Sherry.

Probably an early night tonight so I shall look in again in the morning. Just in case, better say G'night Pete! now.

Hope Sunday is kind to you all,

Kind regards,

Jock.    

[PhilJ W]

Earlier this year my GP suggested wearing less clothing and getting out more.

He wants you to join a nudist colony?

[Ian Abel]

Interesting piece about Grand Juries on the wireless yesterday. Apparently the only people present are the prosecutor and the jury, plus witnesses only when testifying.  The whole thing being held in secret.  The conclusion was that if a Grand Jury did not call for a trial it was because the prosecution didn't really want one.  I'd be interested in our US friends view of this.

 

Ed

Ed,

   Obviously I can only offer a personal view, but from that and generally in discussion with friends, your observation probably belies the truth. Grand juries are "odd" in that respect and even with the supposition of it been a cross-section and "peers", as I stated before it doesn't really seem to turn out that way. Result is that with the two incendiary issues currently causing the unrest the fact that prosecution would be of a police officer certainly feels like it has some bearing. Whilsst juries should NOT be swayed by outside influences, one has to also wonder how both of thos egrand juries decided against moving forward to a trial, when it was pretty apparent that such a decision would definately have immediate and less than savoury consequences...

NOTE: I'm not anti-police, have a couple of good friends who are officers of the peace, and also am bloody glad that in an "armed" society that we have here, that I'm not doing that job and having to potentially consider using deadly force on a daily basis! Even so, if there is wrong doing, it should be addressed correctly.

Morning all. List as long as my arm to do today and (so far) little motivation to do it!

 

List includes writing birthday thank-you's from Jamie to her classmates, writing Christmas cards, wrapping presents, putting up decorations, general tidying, washing, ironing...

 

We're expecting some snow tomorrow and I'm taking Jamie (indoor) skiing. There's a great indoor slope at Braehead with artificial snow where she's been learning this year. I learnt last year on the dry slope on the outskirts of Edinburgh, which is a far more painful way to learn than on snow...

Excellent - I was lucky enough to spend several years as a ski instructor on one of the first artificial slopes (this was on outdoor one, still going) in the UK, at Sandown Park, in the early 70's. Even the advanced class students who had pretty comprehensive skiing backgrounds learned pretty quickly that falling down on that stuff was TO BE AVOIDED!!!

 

On to today - was supposed to be peaceful, but may turn into a total P  A  N  I  C.....

Jemma, having passed her line check on Wednesday, decided to fly out Friday morning to Boston to see a couple of good friends, expecing to come home today and have  respite before heading to LA for the rest of the month as a reserve pilot. She got her schedule late afternoon yesterday and has to be available in LA at 7AM Monday, and looks like she'll not get more than a 2-day break between now an Christmas!!! She gets to Dallas Christmas Eve with only 24-hours off <sigh> fortunately one of her friends (another pilot) has family in Dallas and he's invited her to spend Christmas with him and his parents/brothers, nice.

 

Here's where we PANIC.... looks like all the flights are FULL out to LA tomorrow and she will likely have to be there at the crack of dawn to try and get on whatever she can, AND she still has to shop for some items and pack for a month away - here she thought she'd have some decent 3-4 day breaks, to fluy back and forth from here, but maybe not after all.

Right now we're just waiting for her to arrive in from Boston (due in about 20 minutes) to find out what level of panic/pandemonium we're going to be helping with...

 

Add to that the fact that I'm headed to Nashville for 4 days to do some training tomorrow (afternoon flight), we WERE going to have a slow day, but no more probably <yikes>!!

 

Sunny and -2 here maybe a little warmer tomorrow. Sitting reading RMWeb, the lull before the storm!

Edited December 6, 2014 by Ian Abel

[Judge Dread]

Feeling the cold and old age can sometimes have another factor thrown in. Since I had my heart by-pass operation I have had to take an aspirin a day to thin my blood, with the result that my fingers and toes are now ill supplied and I feel the cold there were as I never did before. If that's not the only pain in the rear, I now feel the cold in my feet in bed and have to wear "bed socks". Still I'm upright and breathing. "Mustn't grumble".

[pH]

Here's where we PANIC.... looks like all the flights are FULL out to LA tomorrow and she will likely have to be there at the crack of dawn to try and get on whatever she can.

 

Ian, are there not seats held right till the end for possible 'deadheading' crews? I know your daughter isn't in Boston on company business, but a pilot friend of ours used to manage to get seats like that even when not on duty. ( He does have the gift of the gab, though.) In fact, I think he has even travelled in a jump seat in the cockpit, though that may have been pre-9/11.

[pH]

I seem to be going against the general trend - I'm starting to feel the cold more as I get older. I used not to 'feel' cold until I was really cold, which is not necessarily a good thing, as I could be in a bit of trouble once that did happen. I now feel the cold much quicker than I used to.

[New Haven Neil]

I'm back, and not too scarred from installation of JMRI and decoder pro.

 

As usual, the pictures on my screen frequently were completely different to those shown in the destructions, maybe I have too much static or something.  Still, I got there eventually, and it works....even the throttle function.  However I see that many of the decoders I have are unidentifiable, and having taken a guess on one it obviously wasn't right as several CV's I knew were in there didn't appear.  I then realised I couldn't change the decoder ID without deleting the whole record and starting from scratch - humbug.

 

Not going to risk connecting wireless devices yet, it'll probably blow up.

[Tony_S]

Neil. Quite often the individual decoder is unidentifiable but if it doesn't make a suggestion it usually identifies the manufacturer. Did you buy a Sprog 3 or Sprog 2.

Tony

[AndyB]

As a rule in thermal physiology experiments we stopped using volunteers once they'd reached the grand-old age of 40 as their physiology was no longer representative of our target population of active servicemen!

I remember thinking "Blimus. 40. That's getting on a bit!" Oh, callow youth. I look back at 40 wistfully now. With a telescope!

[Ian Abel]

Ian, are there not seats held right till the end for possible 'deadheading' crews? I know your daughter isn't in Boston on company business, but a pilot friend of ours used to manage to get seats like that even when not on duty. ( He does have the gift of the gab, though.) In fact, I think he has even travelled in a jump seat in the cockpit, though that may have been pre-9/11.

Indeed, deadheading is no issue, and she can also fly the jump-seat, but she's not technically a deadheading crew member as she is positioning to LA for a one month assignment. It's rather more up to them (the pilots/crews) to get themselves there than when they are deadheading for position, still free obviously but lower priority than a lot of others - odd/strange but true. The vagueries of all this are still being discovered as she continues her journey.

She is lower priority than a true deadheading crew hence the concern about getting out there. I'm sure it'll all work out but as she's just starting her career, there is much she's not sure/aware of, and isn't as seasoned as "we old-farts" might be in asserting a need for something, and relaxing with some assurance that it'll work out fine 

[trisonic]

Spare a thought today for Phil Clark (clark33) he lives outside Tacloban. He is not quite as mobile as the most of us.

 

You may recall his layout which is made of exotic woods!

 

Best, Pete.

[BoD]

.  However I see that many of the decoders I have are unidentifiable,

 

There are more decoder definitions available to download on the JMRI website.

[New Haven Neil]

Neil. Quite often the individual decoder is unidentifiable but if it doesn't make a suggestion it usually identifies the manufacturer. Did you buy a Sprog 3 or Sprog 2.

Tony

 

It's a 3, Tony.   I only grabbed a couple of locos from the garage earlier (it's PEEING down!) and it turns out they both had basic Bachmann decoders - oddly the 552 that everyone says is a Lenz comes up as Bachmann, but the 553 is an ESU Loksound of indeterminate version.  Could have sworn one was a Hornby but there you go.  Tried a couple of different versions, there's not much you can do with them.  Must try a more sophisticated one tomorrow and have a go at speed curves.  Good fun though.

[NGT6 1315]

Oh dear. Duly sated after a Chinese dinner which among other dishes comprised...

 

 

...Tofu à la Pock-Faced Elderly Woman (don't ask me who came up with this name, and it does also contain minced beef)...

 

 

...salt-fried pork...

 

 

...and cold beef with coriander.

 

As you can tell from the visible amount of chillies in the tofu and pork, these were just a wee bit piquante...

[New Haven Neil]

There are more decoder definitions available to download on the JMRI website.

 

Ah, doesn't that mean joining the Yahoo group?  I HATE those things...... 

[BoD]

Ah, doesn't that mean joining the Yahoo group?  I HATE those things...... 

No need for groups, you can do it straight from their website.

 

http://jmri.sourceforge.net/help/en/html/apps/DecoderPro/FileUpdate.shtml

[New Haven Neil]

Thanks BoD, I'll get into that, it all looks like the bottom of a steep learning curve for a computer luddite!

[Tony_S]

Thanks BoD, I'll get into that, it all looks like the bottom of a steep learning curve for a computer luddite!

but at least you don't have to go out to the garage to play trains now!

[Jock67B]

Evening all,

Just turned in with the nightcap but I have to admit that I dozed a bit in front of the TV this evening. Now wondering what Joanna will dream up to try and kill me tomorrow!

Beautiful full Moon tonight and all the cars with a white coat outside - perhaps the second frost of the year will finally drop the remaining leaves from the Bramley trees so as I can put the leaf munching Hoover to work!

Dom, you really are a tease : my treatment has made my mouth so sensitive that even the mildest of spices causes an instantaneous strange tingling on my scalp. Previously, I used to sprinkle raw chopped chillies on my salad and infuse lots of dishes with 'Scotch Bonnet' sauce!! Joking apart, it really is churlish to complain as the very treatment is the reason I'm still here to complain and Joanna thinks it is a real plus now as she can partake of my home made curries or chillies and even my North African tagines have been toned down enough that she happily shares them!

Note that Sunday has just arrived and I hope it goes well for us all,

Kind regards,

Jock.

And for the second time, G'night Pete! In case you missed the earlier one! Hope your cold is better mate.

[railsquid]

Morning... fine sunny if somewhat chilly Tokyo day. It doesn't get much colder than this though - maybe the odd dip below zero - as I told a couple of Indonesian people I met on Friday who were having some difficulty acclimatizing. (And as I like to tell Tokyoites who complain about the cold - tell me it's cold when the rivers have frozen over, then I'll believe you).

 

On call today, which means I get paid a reasonable amount just to be available, and even more if something ever happens. Which it rarely does, but it's an excellent way of financing the hobby while being provided with an excuse to spend time in my home office-stroke-railway room.

 

(Reason for editing: forum software objects to a three-letter combining preposition beginning with "c" and ending in "m", so I have replaced it with "stroke", which ambiguously implies I am fondling my railways in my office, which I can assure you I most certainly never do. Well, almost never).

Edited December 7, 2014 by railsquid

[Oldddudders]

Morning all

 

(Reason for editing: forum software objects to a three-letter combining preposition beginning with "c" and ending in "m", so I have replaced it with "stroke", which ambiguously implies I am fondling my railways in my office, which I can assure you I most certainly never do. Well, almost never).

There is a dodge to overcome the silly censor - when you feel it is not likely to offend. Highlight any letter of the verboten word, and click on the "colour" icon in the header of your contribution. A palette will drop down. Just click on the black box, instead of the automatic, and the censor will ignore your word.

 

Another cold night here. TIB nearly finished, and then I must be off to Sheena's to feed the doglets.

 

Hope your day-of-rest meets Trades Descriptions requirements!