Early Risers.

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

Yesterday was varied.  An hour in the garden after breakfast was quite productive - lawn mowed, some weeds culled - but tiring.  Lunch was gammon steak, quite a rare treat.  In the evening I watched and enjoyed "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" on Channel 4.  Now brace yourselves: amid all this less than frenetic activity I sat down and did some m*d*ll*ng.  Today I must collect my prescription from the surgery so that the chemical warfare can continue for a further two months.  I may also do a supplementary fodder run as the shopping list is getting too long for me to be able to carry it all on the bus.

 

Later in the week I will visit Cambridge Beer Festival with a friend who, like so many, is recovering from illness.  This means that he will not be overdoing it and if we quit after the lunchtime session, so be it.  That's Wednesday sorted.  On Thursday I will visit Poorly Pal, on Saturday I'm on a railtour and on Sunday I will be at Railex amid the multitude.

 

Fingers still crossed for Dave and Is.  Continuing thoughts and best wishes to the ailing, recovering, supporting, grieving, depressed and missing.

 

Chris

[NGT6 1315]

This was posted on Facebook tonight. Train crew truths to outwit Southern Railways lies.

 

"Just so it's out there... And everyone knows... Brighton Depot has 116 conductors W/C 22/05/2016;

 

Out of the 116...

 

6 are on Annual Leave

15 are on Block Rest Days

And 4... Yes 4 are sick!!!

 

You 4.... Are to blame for this weeks cancelled trains!!

 

 

 

There was a conductor on line earlier who said his train was reported by Southern as cancelled due to conductor being sick. However he was on duty ready to be on the train but it was cancelled for other reasons not reported.

 

Recently there have been some trains supposedly being cancelled due to 'conductors and drivers being sick'. There was another train cancelled for part of its journey (journey already shortened due to engineering works at Ford)  on the Arun valley , National Rail site said due to 'shortage of conductors'. Another site said it was due to a 'planning error'.

It is quite common these days to get different reasons for the same train being cancelled, sometimes a different reasom from both platform staff, on trian staff and national Rail.

 

 

Looks like Southern are one hell of an employer for playing such blame games. Unbelievable…

 

Morning all. Bit cloudy right now after a bit of a scorcher yesterday. Other than that, nothing really noteworthy to report on this end, so I'd just like to post a bit of support to those of us under the weather and in need of some positive vibrations.

 

Ta for now…

[edcayton]

Morning all.

 

Enjoyed listening to a spat between two "dietary experts" on the Today programme.

 

As Billy Connolly said "eat less and move about more". Advice I am trying to take.

 

Best wishes

 

Ed

[The Lurker]

Morning all, bright blue skies at London Bridge this morning. Fortunately yesterday's very heavy downpours came in the evening which meant that the planned picnic with the sister in law and her family went as planned. Saturday was a quieter day, involving swimming lessons and mowing the lawn.

 

It also involved retrieving the suitcases from the loft for next week's holidays and looking at the "standard" list of Stuff We Need When We Go Away, and even a bit of preliminary packing! Sometimes it can be very handy being married to someone who thrives on organising other people, even if at other times she can't understand why people aren't as organized as she!

 

I haven't had time to catch up on all the goings on here but I hope that Dave and Is get the best results from the MRI scan

[Happy Hippo]

I see we now have a thread on the Haworth 1940s weekend:  Usual comments about the presence of Germans!

 

Come on catch up, we discussed similar on ERs days ago!

 

Just remember, even 'volunteer' lines are out to extract money out of you, otherwise they'd go bust! 

 

After great expectations about Saturday, it was a wash out.

 

Yesterday was better with a few showers and much work was done on the new rockery and another replacement raised vegetable bed.

 

The showers did make for sticky going in the clay soil that purports to be a garden, and it would appear that, Muddy Hollow (Rear), has been temporarily relocated into the middle of the lawn.  (Although less distance to stroll should I require a quick wallow.)

 

Today will be  another frenzy​ more work in the garden, as the open garden deadline approaches relentlessly.

 

I really must get on and finish the bridge for the garden line as well as getting some track made and laid.

 

There is no peace for the wicked, and going by current events, somewhere in my past, I must have been a really bad boy!

 

I just need to have a quick rush around, and collect any last minute recycling matter that has appeared since my delivery of the bins to the roadside last night.

[Happy Hippo]

Aditi is taking her car to Denton for its annual service.

If there is anything untoward with the automobile, will we detect a Touch of Frost?

[AndyB]

Morning all, and it's a really sunny one. 

 

As Robert say, where did the weekend go? 

Progress on the layout is picking up now, with the backscene painted (nothing fancy!), track weathered, and an electrical fault found and cured. 

N gauge in the garage is great, loads of room to watch a 6-coach train take its time to meander down the length of the layout. 

 

Bindweed duly removed from part of the garden - unbelievable amounts of the stuff and no doubt more will appear.

Iceberg climbing rose planted. 

 

This year we're driving to Scotland rather than flying. Partly because there is now only one airline that does the route and times so "you pays what they says".

As part of the cost saving the children negotiated a repair for their in-car dvd player that will keep them amused on the drive. The slave screen had gone kapput and the headrest mount had broken. After not much time searching the internet it seemed it was almost as cheap/reliable to purchase a new system. I've even treated them to a larger 9" screen this time.  

 

Early start to the day (~03:00) as there was a request for Calpol from my eldest. Didn't get back to sleep after that as the dawn chorus chimed in. Multiple caffeine infusions consumed! 

 

Anyway, have a nice day everyone. Andy

[45156]

Morning All

 

Sorry Andrew that I managed not to comment on the sad news about your doggy loss.  It is never easy to lose a canine friend, but as a vet friend of mine said, we do not own an animal, we simply look after it for the time it has with us here, and when the time comes to say goodbye, this is the one thing that we can do to make sure that they do not suffer.  Not east for us, but the happy memories are there, and will come to the fore in time.

 

Dave - hope for some news today, and as with others I have my fingers crossed.

Ian (Roundhouse) your tales of the poor service on Southern get worse and worse, and make me so relieved that I don't commute to/from London any longer.  Must be a nightmare.

 

And of course, greetings to all the others who are ailing, celebrating, etc.

 

Today is an early shopping run, and a lost of domestic tasks when I get back and get it all packed away.  Weather here is quite bright.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[roundhouse]

Morning all, and it's a really sunny one. 

 

As Robert say, where did the weekend go? 

Progress on the layout is picking up now, with the backscene painted (nothing fancy!), track weathered, and an electrical fault found and cured. 

N gauge in the garage is great, loads of room to watch a 6-coach train take its time to meander down the length of the layout. 

 

Bindweed duly removed from part of the garden - unbelievable amounts of the stuff and no doubt more will appear.

Iceberg climbing rose planted. 

 

This year we're driving to Scotland rather than flying. Partly because there is now only one airline that does the route and times so "you pays what they says".

As part of the cost saving the children negotiated a repair for their in-car dvd player that will keep them amused on the drive. The slave screen had gone kapput and the headrest mount had broken. After not much time searching the internet it seemed it was almost as cheap/reliable to purchase a new system. I've even treated them to a larger 9" screen this time.  

 

Early start to the day (~03:00) as there was a request for Calpol from my eldest. Didn't get back to sleep after that as the dawn chorus chimed in. Multiple caffeine infusions consumed! 

 

Anyway, have a nice day everyone. Andy

Any photos of your layout?

[roundhouse]

Ian (Roundhouse) your tales of the poor service on Southern get worse and worse, and make me so relieved that I don't commute to/from London any longer.  Must be a nightmare.

 

It tends to go in phases when its not too bad but then it takes a tumble for periods. Unfortunately with what I do its either driving round the M25 or similar else its work for a company that only does construction work in London hence using the trains. I once did look at moving to another part of the country but the driving can be very long distance.

 

This morning we had to stand for over 40 minutes (on top of waiting for the train and studding on the bus ) crammed in by the coach connector doors. Tourists with big suitcases on seats but when they moved them the cases blocked both the gap between the seats and aisle as no where else for them to put the cases. We let a petite girl use the seat as I would have ended up with cramp if I took it. Later trains photo'd by local users group showed that it was impossible for people to get on them as things seemed to have got worse this morning. Even Southerns twitter account has crashed due to high demand!!

 

I did notice that on Saturday the trains along the coast were very quiet even with quite a few cancelled. Its going to hurt the railways off peak travel if they don't sort the issues out soon.

[AndyB]

Any photos of your layout?

 

Is she about? 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Hoping for some good news about Is, fingers crossed and all that. One little problem with being retired is that bank holidays seem to pass by without registering, after all when retired every day is a bank holiday. What happens is that I see a report of an event and think 'I would like to have been there.' followed by 'I could have been there had I known.' So as this coming weekend is a bank holiday weekend I am going to look for events within an hour to hour and a half drive that might take my fancy.

[BSW01]

On top of all this, my dad is starting to become very forgetful and I don't know whether it's due to exhaustion, frustration or a form of dementia.

 

 

Duncan.

If your dads feeling anything like I was last year, then I suspect that his forgetfulness my be the result of exhaustion and frustration.

[BSW01]

Morning everyone.

 

It's a sunny day and I'm stuck in the office at Preston, but at least the trip up here wasn't too bad, taking just over 45 minutes, I've known it take well over a hour on more than one occasion.

Not much planned for the day here, so I intend to keep scanning here throughout the day to keep up with all the posts. 

 

I've managed to read all the posts for yesterday that I didn't have time to read yesterday, I'm that busy that, so some good has come out of being sat at a desk, but it's bl00dy boring doing nowt!

 

Anyway, back later.

 

have a good one.

[Tony_S]

If there is anything untoward with the automobile, will we detect a Touch of Frost?

Silly Spellchecker changed the perfectly correct Dunton to Denton.

No frostiness at all!

Edited May 23, 2016 by Tony_S

[Tony_S]

I followed Aditi to the Ford garage a Dunton, I then left her at Sainsbury and took myself off to buy a new backup drive. I did remember to go back to the supermarket.

I will now summon up some enthusiasm to unpack the little box from PC World. When I had my first day in 1985 at Havering's Educational Computer Centre it was also the delivery day for their new 500 Mb

hard drive. It was the size of a refrigerator. The 4Tb unit I have just purchased is quite tiny, loaf sized really.

Tony

Edited May 23, 2016 by Tony_S

[Sidecar Racer]

.   The cats are begging for their breakfast .

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

There was I sitting innocently at the 'puter then there came sizzling sounds from the kitchen, followed by delicious smells, followed by the smoke alarm going off - clearly a proper job breakfast/brunch on the way.  and there was - a fried egg, bacon, fried potatoes and black pudding.  herself is heading for the garden so decided she needed something to eat first - so I got a breakfast/brunch (for the second day running).

 

Not sure if I will be subject to the 'G' word but if I am I suspect more path scraping will be ordained - however the bin is already very heavy so maybe I'll have a good reason not to 

 

Meanwhile to brighten your day - while avoiding retribution from she who watches, here is a picture of Bill's Hochstadt layout from yesterday's show at Didcot - although it includes track there are no trains but there are mugs of bier instead, very civilised.  Have a nice day everybody.

 

Edited May 23, 2016 by The Stationmaster

[roundhouse]

Morning all,

 

There was I sitting innocently at the 'puter then there came sizzling sounds from the kitchen, followed by delicious smells, followed by the smoke alarm going off - clearly a proper job breakfast/brunch on the way.  and there was - a fried egg, bacon, fried potatoes and black pudding.  herself is heading for the garden so decided she needed something to eat first - so I got a breakfast/brunch (for the second day running).

 

Not sure if I will be subject to the 'G' word but if I am I suspect more path scraping will be ordained - however the bin is already very heavy so maybe I'll have a good reason not to 

 

Meanwhile to brighten your day - while avoiding retribution from she who watches, here is a picture of Bill's Hochstadt layout from yesterday's show at Didcot - although it includes track there are no trains but there are mugs of bier instead, very civilised.  Have a nice day everybody.

 

DSCF9061.jpg

A bier garten. Wish I was there now

Edited May 23, 2016 by roundhouse

[AndyB]

Is she about? 

 

I'm not saying I'm scared of her    , it's just I spontaneously thought it would be a fantastic idea to create a layout thread. 

[sixoh8sixoh]

Morning all from a sunny Scottish HQ. I've been away for a trip to Mull to celebrate GF's birthday, then with Jamie in Glasgow yesterday. Arrived back into Leith on Saturday night at 10pm from quiet, tranquil Mull to what looked like a war zone as Hibs fans celebrated their Scottish Cup win.

 

Sorry not to have been able to catch up on posts so I hope everyone's well and recovering!

 

Iona Abbey

 

Fingal's Cave, Staffa

 

Billy

Edited May 23, 2016 by sixoh8sixoh

[Judge Dread]

I'm not saying I'm scared of her    , it's just I spontaneously thought it would be a fantastic idea to create a layout thread. 

I'm not scared of my wife!! Terrified would be more accurate. 

I shall now deny all knowledge of this posting.   

[NGT6 1315]

Here is todays crew, you 'umble scribe second from left.  We were all told to look miserable as folk always look that way in the old photos.

 

13227029_10153416717257260_2157814264244270278_n.jpg

 

 

Who'd have thought they had such awesome photo plates then!   

[Ian Abel]

Morning. No dawn chorus here, unless the clattering of the Long Island Railroad trains 100ft from the hotel count! 

 

As it was "airport day" yesterday I didn't get much time for anything, but DID manage to remove the two old/troublesome points I'm replacing, and prep the new ones for install. Some progress at least, though far less than I was hoping for <sigh>

 

As there was nothing else in terms of "events", I thought I'd post this for your perusal.

Jemma started a 5 day trip yesterday and needed to be at the airport about the same time as me, well, an hour or so earlier, so to save Mrs two trips, I went early with her.

Watched her push back on her way to Chicago for a "turn", i.e. MSP - MDW (Chicago Midway) - MSP, then she's was headed to Vancouver for overnight.

 

 

That's all for now, another week in the dungeon begins.

 

12 and partly sunny driving in with 22 expected for the high.

 

Hope the week starts well for everyone.

 

[Tony_S]

The new backup system for our computers seems to be working. The big test will be whether or not it works as advertised with Mac computers.

The instructions were comprehensive, plug in ethernet cable, plug in power supply, wait until LEDs illuminate.

Update it seems to be working nicely on the Mac too.