Early Risers.

[Smiffy2]

Morning all.

Eyes feel like they've been sandpapered! Ongoing problem from last week, which may have been dust (neighbour was remodelling a field) or perhaps allergy (lots of rape growing nearby) leading to soreness and swelling round my eyes. The swelling has largely subsided but the soreness persists. I'm seeing the nurse on Monday, so I'll whine to her.

 

Sherry - sorry to hear you're poorly, but glad that it seems to be passing. Hopefully OK very soon. And good wishes to others in the same boat.  

 

I'm off to play - have a good weekend.

[BoD]

What is it about us Brits?

 

We have beautiful scenery, a fantastic coastline and seaside. We go there to enjoy them.....

 

..... and leave our litter.

[grandadbob]

Well I seem to have dodged the bullet by refusing to go out. As we're going on a cruise in a couple of weeks time I suggested it might be a good idea to check how much we could get into our suitcases so she's up there happily "test packing" and I'm down here happily drinking coffee and doing not a lot.  

[Kelly]

Afternoon all. The weather has decided to be kind for trip to the electric railway museum open day. Should have some nice photos of electric units that should prove useful.

 

Now to sit and rest for a short while with a cuppa and painkillers.

[New Haven Neil]

Ah, Bob, Mrs H is also a test packer of some notoriety, it started today for our holiday on the 29th.....aaaagh.  I hope that your wife's friend can recover from her loss, awful to lose someone so young, with a young family too.

 

We had a run out on the bikes this morning, Mrs H fell yesterday and twisted her ankle a bit, but it was better this morning - ish.  The pain is in the side of her foot now, and as she wants to commute on her bike for the next two weeks due to road closures wanted to see if she could manage.   On my bike yes, but not hers was the answer! Just as we got back a hailstorm covered the garden in white full stops, not bad timing!

[JohnDMJ]

Back from the near 100 mile round trip that was Redhill and Horsham.

 

Redhill was a busy little show with some good new goods traders and one pre-owned stall - a good balance!

 

Horsham was spread over three rooms with a wide variety of layouts over N - TT - 00 - G and some ports in between! Balance of new to pre-owned trade was in favour of pre-owned.

 

Good to meet Roundhouse and to touch base on TT et alia, and also happened across Pufferman on one of is breaks from the ride-on line.

 

A Grand Day Out (as someone once said!)

[Kelly]

Thank you for all the kind comments. I've had a dreadful night with my temperature nearly reaching 39deg C (almost 102 in old money!) but feel somewhat better now I've had breakfast. Despite having my routine 'flu jab the in the Autumn, I seem to have contracted a strain of 'flu not covered by it.

 

On a happier note, my son's girlfriend is about to have their first baby - she's been in labour since Thursday evening! They opted not to be told its gender so it's just like the old days.....!

 

More anon!

 

Hope you're feeling better soon. The flu jab is based on statistics of what they think are the most likely strains in a given year, so can be hit or miss for some people. I find the jab makes me ill for a few weeks afterwards (a side effect of my illness really), but I tend not to get the full blown flu, which would be horrendous for me really (again due to chronic illness).

[trisonic]

Morning all.

Eyes feel like they've been sandpapered! Ongoing problem from last week, which may have been dust (neighbour was remodelling a field) or perhaps allergy (lots of rape growing nearby) leading to soreness and swelling round my eyes. The swelling has largely subsided but the soreness persists. I'm seeing the nurse on Monday, so I'll whine to her.

 

Sherry - sorry to hear you're poorly, but glad that it seems to be passing. Hopefully OK very soon. And good wishes to others in the same boat.  

 

I'm off to play - have a good weekend.

 

Sounds like my allergies. I use “Flonase” - which while one snorts it up it covers 6 different symptoms including the eye ones. https://www.flonase.com

 

I never use to suffer from what we used to call “Hay Fever” until I got “old”.

 

Sympathies with Sherry. There are holes in the coverage provided by Flu Jab but still take it.... This year I added pneumonia to my jabs.

 

Best, Pete.

Edited April 9, 2016 by trisonic

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon (larte version) all,

 

Well from Corsham I am returned.  Arrival - by Royal Blue coach (the free 'bus' from Chippenham station) - beautifully timed to coincide with young Mr ChrisF enroute to buy a cuppa (he kindly bought me one too) and then a chat with Mike (Sidecar Racer) and Stu (Cornish Excile) left two vacant seats by Mrs Stu (Jill) so tea was consumed in comfort.  Then followed a visit to an excellent show which I will duly relate in the appropriate thread but most enjoyable.  

 

The return from show to home took just over 10 minutes short of 3 hours - the worst bit being 78 minutes to cover the final 10 miles due to crummy Saturday train services.  However an unexpected gem was uncovered in the form of a buffet called 'steamers' (ugh!!) at Chippenham station which offered various comestibles such as scrambled egg and bacon or sausage bap so being a  bit peckish and having plenty of time to wait for the train I duly asked for a bacon bap. I was asked if I wanted ketchup so asked what kind of bacon it was - receiving a slighty blank look (albeit with a lovely smile) so I presumed aloud that it must be bacon bacon, to be informed that 'it comes from the local butcher'.  In Wiltshire that has definite implications so ketchup was firmly rejected and 10 minutes later my bacon bacon bap duly arrived - top notch bacon and somewhat unexpected in such a location but if you're ever in Chippenham and fancy a quality warm snack go to 'Steamers' at the station.

 

Big decision for this evening is where/what to eat - no doubt something will emerge from the thought process even if it's an Italian something or other at the local Colombian/Polish run cafe. 

 

Have a  good evening one & all.

[Barry O]

Back from my scorers meeting in Barnsley. The roads to and from had more than their fair share of ravingeediots today.

Pint of Goose Eye bitter has calmed my furrowed brow.

 

Next up champagne then food!

 

Baz

[AndyB]

Evening all,

Well, I've been doing some computer maintenance. 

I say "computer", but frankly and abacus would have been quicker recently. 

I cleaned out many gigabytes of family photos onto a new hard drive. This made, erm, little difference.

As part of the migration of the photos a message popped up saying that now the data was migrated across the new drive was unreadable & corrupted. 

This was quite upsetting as each photo was a memory and to loose the lot was upsetting.

Some quick research showed that all was not lost and a recovery tool allows files to be retrieved. I tried this and, only a fraction of the photos were recovered. 

I then got a message saying the new external drive was perfectly readable and not corrupted and that all the photos were available. Huge relief.

But the computer was still very slow. 

Part of the recovery software was a disc cleaning program which claimed that it also speeds up the computer.

So, I tried this and the one thing that seemed to make considerable difference was tackling numerous (~1770) missing dll files, which apparently weren't even needed.

Pleased to say the computer is now flying, in comparison to earlier and most importantly all photos are safe.  

 

Meanwhile, swmbo has been clearing out the house and garage. Think I'll be doing tip runs tomorrow! 

 

Also my neighbour has dropped a broken firework fire control system round for me to "fix".

The internal programming features seem to work (whatever happened to a long match!), but the radio comms link seems to be, knackered. 

I'd say the best way to fix it would be to find out where he bought it and buy another one!

 

Time for some wine and a curry to celebrate.  

[Ashcombe]

Hope you're feeling better soon. The flu jab is based on statistics of what they think are the most likely strains in a given year, so can be hit or miss for some people. I find the jab makes me ill for a few weeks afterwards (a side effect of my illness really), but I tend not to get the full blown flu, which would be horrendous for me really (again due to chronic illness).

Thank you, Kelly. I'm wondering if I contracted this in France whereas I had my flu jab in Torquay, where different strains might be expected. Despite resting for two days, taking Lemsip and drinking plenty of water, it isn't improving.

 

Still, it's not as serious as what many folk here have to face. Thoughts of Jock.

 

No baby news yet ......

[Oldddudders]

Sherry continues to be well below par, has hardly left her bed today except for loo visits and a bit of food she struggled to eat. Classic flu, really.

 

Worse news from my brother with the brain tumour. I had - two weeks ago - emailed both the twins to say we would be about in their locale late April or early May and when would be a good day to be visiting. Silence. So today I repeated the message, and sure enough, the other brother comes back saying the chemo etc hasn't really done the trick and further measures will be required. A visit now seems really urgent, frankly. 

 

There are times when I feel a significant number of people around me have failed to get their expected longevity - far more than average. Depressing. 

 

EDIT : Sorry everyone, I didn't know Sherry was going to post, too!

Edited April 9, 2016 by Oldddudders

[trisonic]

On a lighter note (hint) the  hoo-ha over a ridiculous “Gagging” Order on the UK press is pretty amusing.

Gagging order is particularly apt in this case.....

 

Ian, I’m still really annoyed with myself that my brother passed away because we left many things unspoken - don’t make my mistake (of being overly optimistic).

 

Good luck, Pete.

 

Edited for clarity

Edited April 9, 2016 by trisonic

[Happy Hippo]

STOP PRESS!

 

ITV TV Drama 'Jericho' axed after one series. According the the Daily Express.

 

The story of a railway viaduct that was never finished.

 

Sounds like one of my projects with a Metcalfe kit!

 

I saw the first episode, and rapidly lost interest thereafter.

 

As an aside we are watching 'Vikings' on Amazon Prime..

 

But as we start viewing Series two, Noggin the Nog has not turned up yet, so 0/10 for historical accuracy.

[New Haven Neil]

Sounds like Sherry has that rotten bug I had.  The good news is it passes, the bad news is it takes a while.  Take it easy hon, and don't try to walk before you can run, it gets a real grip.

 

On lighter notes, we had one of our infamous romantic meals out this evening, after driving all the way to Castletown, to discover Saturday seems to be half day closing.  Tumbleweed.  Drove a few miles further to Port Erin to find the place bustling (and a train arriving).  And they wonder why Castletown is dying on it's feet. Shesh.  Anyway, had a Chinese carry-out in the car, looking at the ships passing by, and realising that the air was clear enough to see Snowdonia and Anglesey.  Super evening, sunny and crisp.  Unlike the hailstones earlier down north.

[NGT6 1315]

Be well soon, Sherry! Sounds like something no-one needs to have...

 

Pretty busy afternoon but winding down now after nightfall. Later!

[The Stationmaster]

On a lighter note (hint) the  hoo-ha over a ridiculous “Gagging” Order on the UK press is pretty amusing.

Gagging order is particularly apt in this case.....

 

Ian, I’m still really annoyed with myself that my brother passed away because we left many things unspoken - don’t make my mistake (of being overly optimistic).

 

Good luck, Pete.

 

Edited for clarity

 

Shame there's a gagging order Pete as it means you won't be able to furnish us with the information.

 

I do really wonder if people seeking these orders actually think things through - if everyone knew about it there would one a 5 minute fluster in 'the Sun' or some other red top and it would all be forgotten in a few days.  Once there's a hint of a gagging order everyone sets out to see what it's all about and the thing gets even more attention.  Whereas if it was made known the vast majority would simply say 'oh yeah' and just carry on ignoring it all.

[Mike Bellamy]

 furnish us with the information.

 

 

 

Sorry seems to be the hardest word . . . . . . . . .

 

.

[trisonic]

Shame there's a gagging order Pete as it means you won't be able to furnish us with the information.

 

I do really wonder if people seeking these orders actually think things through - if everyone knew about it there would one a 5 minute fluster in 'the Sun' or some other red top and it would all be forgotten in a few days.  Once there's a hint of a gagging order everyone sets out to see what it's all about and the thing gets even more attention.  Whereas if it was made known the vast majority would simply say 'oh yeah' and just carry on ignoring it all.

 

I don’t mind really but don’t want to embarrass any of the three m (ales - or Perrin).

 

Best, Pete.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Looks like an early night tonight as I'm going to the exhibition at the Canvey bus museum tomorrow. Best wishes to all those who are ailing and get well soon. Goodnight all.

[Simon G]

Evening all. A mixed day at the Maryport show today, as our layout had numerous problems with laptop communicating ( or not) with DCC controller, which in turn didn't always play ball. Then one DMU struggled to make it through one set of points all day, while very thing else managed.

 

A friend had a much worse day, as he was scheduled join the Cumbrian Coastal Express at Preston today, only to be told when the train (behind Royal Scot) arrived that there were no seats for people getting on at Preston. It would appear that more seats were sold than existed on the train! This appears to be an issue with the number of coaches allowed up the WCML behind steamers. All the same, it is a pretty shabby way to treat your paying customers.

[lightengine]

A message from our correspondent in Venice.

1. The Japanese. However did they manage in WW2? Fighting in a war means dodging bullets and shells whilst fighting back. Yesterday in St Marks Square we had some rain. Not Sotch mist but light drizzle. The sort where you think should you get your jacket on or wait until it rains. The Japanese yesterday suddenly and to a man sprouted umbrellas. They are scared to get wet in case they pastry faces get wet. Well let me tell them something. In fact 2 things. 1st of all you wont shrink. Secondly, when you wield an umbrella in light mist watch out for my f*****g eyes!

2. 3 Yanks came out of the Doges Palace after what was probably a very nice guided tour. 1st Yank female, I'll call her Tight Wad, gives the tour guide about €2. 2nd Yank female gives him an offering. 1st one shouts 'its ok I paid the guy for all of us'. Simultaneously, my favourite Yank female of the day, 3rd, attempts to give the guide a tip. The 1st Yank female repeats her claim twice more and knocks the 3rd females money to to the ground. 3rd female ignores 2nd female, picks up her €2 and gives it to the guide. I congratulated the 3rd female on her dedication to the task.

3. Selfie sticks? WTF. Never have I seen so many selfie sticks in the possession of so many vain people. I walked up about 2.5 million steps to go outside on the roof of St Marks Basilica. As I passed by the door the Worlds most vain female exited with her Beau. On seeing the 4 magnificent Bronze stallions on the roof, the Campanile Tower and the milling throngs in St Marks Square below guess what she uttered?

Ok 2 more guesses.

She actually said 'It's a selfie stick moment' to her (most probably equally vain) Beau.

 

So, to sum up, if you visit Venice or travel abroad, look out for umbrella wielding Japenese tourists wielding brollies, vane tourists wielding selfie sticks and tight wads.

 

ps.

We stepped on the boat today to cross to Venice and 4 Yank females got on also. Middle aged and relatively sensible. The apparent bimbo, blonde haired with cowboy hat asked the others "Are we on an actual boat now?" apparently she had missed that bit where you step off solid non rocking terra firma onto a moving, pitching sea going vessel and climbed down into its seating area. Apparently they let them out!

Ciao.

Edited April 9, 2016 by lightengine

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[laurenceb]

Night all