Early Risers.

[AndrewC]

Just a thought, AndrewC, but will the extra planting in the front garden block out light from your front room? 

Yes, and that is a good thing. We face west so the front room gets quite warm on sunny days.

[AndyB]

Not sure if anyone else has seen the Sunday night drama "The Secret Agent", a Victorian drama where characters move from London to Kent by steam train and, evidently, imagines what trains and train liveries will look like in 50 years later.    

 

I was interested to read in the Daily Fail today an article about the surviving numbers of "classic" 1970s/80s cars. If my Allegro had survived it would, indeed, be rare, with about 170 still registered. Some may say that's 170 too many.

 

I do remember, however, filling up with petrol at a garage in L-o-S once and an old boy swaggering over telling me he'd got rid of his Allegro as "it was like sitting in a bath" and "I only got 30k miles out of it". Well, a chap doesn't take kindly to his choice of perambulation being "dissed", so I pointed out mine had 95k miles on the clock and was still going quite nicely, thank you. After he'd gone I got the starting hammer out and welted the starter motor to get the old girl going - not in the handbook, but it should have been.

 

 

Genesis live in Roma playing. Musically I know what I like.

No lawn mowing scheduled, I am not a lawn mower. 

[pH]

Triple glazing can work well to cut down traffic noise. It doesn't need to be an elaborate system - single pane sliding panels mounted on the inside window ledge work, as long as the frames have foam or something similar for the sliders to close against. My mother-in-law lived in an apartment on a busy road and had them fitted in front of double-glazed main panels in the bedrooms facing the road. It was no problem to sleep through the morning rush hour. The sliders were taken out when the double glazing was renewed and the difference in sound damping was quite noticeable.

[Ian Hargrave]

After a whole 14 hours with either no water or pressure too low to work with..full supply has just returned.Not a good day in Froth City.When you don't have it,you sure do appreciate it.Well done to the guys of South Staffs Water.

 

Phase 2 duly complete...all patios,slabs.paved areas, paths and garden furniture pristine to Buck House standard.I feel like a zombie on rubber stilts and wiil no doubt be jetting the Aston Expressway in my dreams tonight.

[peanuts]

good afternoon every one day so far spent dropping kit off at former employers then watching clouds envelope todays shoot location so cancelled that 

 

 discusion on another board what came first white van man or the white van ?

[Donw]

It's cheaper to hire a twin turbine executive aeroplane than a motor home!

 

What are the beds, the cooker and the sink like in the plane.

Don

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. I've arranged to view the motorhome Thursday night but in the meantime I've done a bit of research into the model I'm interested in. I was delighted to find that there is an owners forum for the model so I duly joined and asked the question about replacing the tank. I was told that it would not be neccessary to replace the tank as petrol or diesel in the water tank is a quite common occurance and flushing agents are available. Incidently the respective fillers are nowhere near to each other, the fuel filler cap is low down just behind the drivers door but the water filler is at waist level on the rear panel. It would require stripping out the kitchen units to reach the tank anyway, the body is a one piece fibreglass monocoque type. Tony, the vehicle itself is at Benfleet, almost in the shadow of Hadleigh castle. I did once contemplate hiring a camper or mobile home for a visit to the USA and the prices looked quite reasonable if booked as part of a 'Fly-drive' holiday. I was thinking of going with my dad but his health wasn't up to it.

[Happy Hippo]

What are the beds, the cooker and the sink like in the plane.

Don

The beds are fine.

 

I'd have to ask the trolley dolly about the sink and the cooker.  

[roundhouse]

And here we go with yet another fun packed customer experience out of LBG this evening.

 

No trolley dolly on Southern these days

They wouldn't get very far down the first coach. This train wedged due numerous cancellations. Luckily we were in the right place when they advertised the platform. Departing 25 late.

Edited July 26, 2016 by roundhouse

[Ian Abel]

Good grief!  The past few days have been remarkable in being busy and no time to even look around at the 4 days messages, I apologize <sigh>

 

Had a pretty good but very busy weekend combination of a weekend at the cabin and an evening with friends watching firework in downtown Minneapolis.

 

Then came "yesterday" - what a total flustercuck! Intent on travelling to JFK for the week, I worked at home until about 3PM, then prepared to head to the airport;

3:15PM - get a text from Delta saying 5:30 flight was now departing 7:06 due to weather at JFK.

5:00PM - head to airport

7:00PM - at gate and we board aircraft

7:30PM - JFK tell all a/c going into the NY are it'll be 90 minutes additional delay - all pax deplaned.

8:00PM - estimated departure now 9:06PM but due to added delay(s) expected, cabin crew time-out and frantic search begins for replacement crew.

8:45PM - NOT boarding for 9:06 departure as the only crew to be found (due to enormous nationwide cluster as a result of NY weather) are ON A PLANE inbound to MSP

9:25PM - crew finally arrived/obtained, start boarding for 10PM departure

10:05PM - push back form gate - YAY

10;20PM - can't start #2 engine, towed BACK to gate for maintenance to come ###### about

11:45PM - all fixed and we push again

2:45AM (NY local time) arrive at JFK - guess what, there's no arsewipe around to run the jetway, wait 20 MINUTES on the apron for a prat to show up.

4:00AM - check in to hotel, only 5 hours later than expected <big bloody yawn>

 

This now beats the record set two weeks ago when I was headed home - 7 hrs. from first boarding until I exited the airport - could have pretty much crossed the atlantic in that time!

 

Suffice to say I didn't get to the client at 8AM this morning  what a delightfully exotic globetrotting life I lead...

Edited July 26, 2016 by Ian Abel

[roundhouse]

Ian

 

Seems like airport delays are becoming the norm across the pond these days I suppose as airline tighten their schedule so much that there's no room for recovery, a bit like here on the trains these days.

[lightengine]

More madness today.  Hostage taking at a church with deaths.  Death of a Dr in a hospital in Berlin from an assault.  It seems like some band wagons are being jumped on. Perhaps we need to eradicate all band wagons to stop these attacks.

 

In lighter news my wife tells me that a local priest to her home town was involved in exposing his privates to parishioners whilst under the affluence.  He is apparently now residing in a mental health establishment.

 

I ventured into Newton today with the missus to do some much needed shopping for home DIY essentials and birthday presents.  It wasn't too tiring and was nice to get fresh air again.

[lightengine]

'petrol into the water tank'

 

That must have been one heck of a d'oh moment when they realised what they had done.

 

 

 

I now have a mental picture of your typical crook, no bag marked swag but striped jumper, mask and swung over the shoulder a butterfly net full of drones.

It was ok until they got to the picnic area and he found out his wife had filled the gas tank with tomato sauce and the screen wiper had mayo in it.

[NGT6 1315]

E'ning all! It was terribly humid till the late morning hours when a downpour went through, and I understand more precip and thunder are predicted for tomorrow.

 

Knackered after a partial and temporary kitchen clearout as a result of the new fridge, which also triggered a few additional rearrangements. Note sure what we'll be doing tomorrow but a few bits from the hardware shop are still required. I think I'll round off this evening with a drink of some specification. Beer and cider are both available!

 

More madness today.  Hostage taking at a church with deaths.  Death of a Dr in a hospital in Berlin from an assault.  It seems like some band wagons are being jumped on. Perhaps we need to eradicate all band wagons to stop these attacks.

 

The killing spree at a Japanese residence for disabled persons was rather revolting as well, given that the perpetrator was quoted as having stated he had felt obliged to rid society of essentially "unworthy life." I cannot think of any reasonable way of commenting on that mindset except letting it speak for itself and its madness.

[BSW01]

Good afternoon everyone.

 

That's 7 hours of my life that I'll never get back. I was unable to escape, but I've arranged to assist a colleague on a very remote site, that he's not been to before. After that, I think I'll pop into the new Hatton's shop, as it's only a short distance away.

 

Off to complete the Sainsbury's Grand Prix.

 

Back later.

[Shedman5]

Evening, whilst the world has been going mad I have spent the day in the garden mowing, clipping shrubs etc and spray painted the stove pipe on the woodburner and blackened the door with graphite polish and buffed off. Indeed it looks like new and brownie points earned.

 

Now its time for a sit down and a nice glass of vino and well earned in my view!

[Ian Abel]

Ian

 

Seems like airport delays are becoming the norm across the pond these days I suppose as airline tighten their schedule so much that there's no room for recovery, a bit like here on the trains these days.

The issue is mostly no flexibility in schedules, with tight turn-around times and high crew utilizations.

As soon as any event (mostly severe weather of any variety) hits a major hub/city area it causes a ripple through the entire system. It can take multi-hours to recover from a simple 1-hour delay at a major location. Crews can time out and unless the carrier/aircraft is at one of "their" hubs, where there are some reserve crews, the whole thing goes into melt-down!

[45156]

Just caught up after delivering some pics of Green Ayre Rises to a friend who was one of the tea ladies, and she was thrilled to get them as a memory.  Many thanks to Jamie and Sam (Sir Douglas) for organising this little treat for someone who worked tirelessly all day, and didn't even get to see the layouts for any appreciable time.

 

Back tomorrow.

Edited July 26, 2016 by 45156

[emt_911]

A very good day work wise, I've ended up ahead of schedule with my current job which gives me a bit of leeway. I even managed to finish early as well.

 

Madness seems to be getting a hold on all parts of the world at the moment. Lets hope it doesn't continue

 

Thinking of those ailing, supporting, recovering and missing

[andyram]

Evening all and thanks for the anniversary wishes. Sarah and I had a quiet evening with a bottle of bubbly, at times we reminisced over the big day six years ago. We also remembered our first full day as a married couple for very different reasons. Six years ago today was not the greatest start to our married life. I am sure I have recounted the story on ER before of our disastrous trip up to Fort William.

 Six years on and things seem to go against us again. Perhaps the 26th July is a jinxed day for us. Today we decided on another animal based day out - Sarah and Amber wanted to visit the Exmoor Zoo which is not too far from Barnstaple. I had used my IPhone to program the route last night whilst the holiday cottage's shaky Wi-Fi was working. This morning the programmed route had disappeared and so had the Wi-Fi! With no phone signal either it was impossible to reprogram the route. I fired up my old Sat-Nav which I had bought as a back up, yet that also failed to pick up any GPS signal. Oh well I thought, I can roughly remember the route - I will follow my nose and head towards the zoo until the IPhone picks up a signal. Sadly that was a big mistake. We got well and truly lost well before the technology decided to work. How I wish I had packed my old road Atlas that I know I left on the kitchen table back home. The result was a scenic tour of the Exmoor National Park and a 45 minute journey that became over two hours!

 Instead of arriving mid morning, we arrived at lunch time so the café was our first port of call. Whilst having lunch it decided to rain very heavily! It really felt like everything was going wrong again. Thankfully the rain eased and we managed to dodge the later showers whilst enjoying a good few hours in the zoo. It is a nice place with a good selection of animals including a variety of larger cats. We just managed to catch the end of the cheetah feeding and also saw the black leopards being fed. The talk covered some interesting information about the "myths" of the big cat sightings in the area. It appears that there is strong evidence to support the presence of wild "pumas" and "leopards" roaming the area. These sort of things always interest me.

 Today has been the first day of the holiday that has not included some kind of steam locomotive sighting. Tomorrow is due to feature a trip on the West Somerset Railway - I am very much looking forward to it.

 Here are some pictures from today starting with one of the zoo's three cheetahs.

 

And some Sand Cats.

 

A Puma

 

A through the glass shot of the Black Leopard

 

And a couple of other creatures

Edited July 26, 2016 by andyram

[Andrew P]

Evening all and thanks for the anniversary wishes. Sarah and I had a quiet evening with a bottle of bubbly, at times we reminisced over the big day six years ago. We also remembered our first full day as a married couple for very different reasons. Six years ago today was not the greatest start to our married life. I am sure I have recounted the story on ER before of our disastrous trip up to Fort William.

 Six years on and things seem to go against us again. Perhaps the 26th July is a jinxed day for us. Today we decided on another animal based day out - Sarah and Amber wanted to visit the Exmoor Zoo which is not too far from Barnstaple. I had used my IPhone to program the route last night whilst the holiday cottage's shaky Wi-Fi was working. This morning the programmed route had disappeared and so had the Wi-Fi! With no phone signal either it was impossible to reprogram the route. I fired up my old Sat-Nav which I had bought as a back up, yet that also failed to pick up any GPS signal. Oh well I thought, I can roughly remember the route - I will follow my nose and head towards the zoo until the IPhone picks up a signal. Sadly that was a big mistake. We got well and truly lost well before the technology decided to work. How I wish I had packed my old road Atlas that I know I left on the kitchen table back home. The result was a scenic tour of the Exmoor National Park and a 45 minute journey that became over two hours!

 Instead of arriving mid morning, we arrived at lunch time so the café was our first port of call. Whilst having lunch it decided to rain very heavily! It really felt like everything was going wrong again. Thankfully the rain eased and we managed to dodge the later showers whilst enjoying a good few hours in the zoo. It is a nice place with a good selection of animals including a variety of larger cats. We just managed to catch the end of the cheetah feeding and also saw the black leopards being fed. The talk covered some interesting information about the "myths" of the big cat sightings in the area. It appears that there is strong evidence to support the presence of wild "pumas" and "leopards" roaming the area. These sort of things always interest me.

 Today has been the first day of the holiday that has not included some kind of steam locomotive sighting. Tomorrow is due to feature a trip on the West Somerset Railway - I am very much looking forward to it.

 Here are some pictures from today starting with one of the zoo's three cheetahs.

101_1729.JPG

 

And some Sand Cats.

101_1744.JPG

101_1745.JPG

 

A Puma

101_1751.JPG

 

A through the glass shot of the Black Leopard

101_1752.JPG

 

And a couple of other creatures

101_1739.JPG101_1735.JPG101_1736.JPG

I won't go anywhere without a good Road Map, far more reliable than a Sat Nav and also makes the Brain work, remember my story of the journey back from Jock's Funeral when the Sat Nav wanted to send us SOUTH around the M25.

[Tony_S]

Matthew phoned a few times today. We had a chat at 4.20 am to confirm he was up (yes he does have alarms, but his medication seems to promote deep sleep!), then a quick chat from Schipol. The next phone call was about the train to Cork and I heard the departure announcement in Irish and English.

Then I got a call about lunch and how the people at the Polish cafe were really interested in his research. He was off to view a house tonight for a 4 month house share, "2 females would prefer male to share " .

Apparently other people's adult offspring don't phone quite so much! Not complaining!

Tony

Edited July 26, 2016 by Tony_S

[Tony_S]

I won't go anywhere without a good Road Map, far more reliable than a Sat Nav and also makes the Brain work, remember my story of the journey back from Jock's Funeral when the Sat Nav wanted to send us SOUTH around the M25.

There are sat navs and sat navs! Mine hasn't offered the off road option yet but apparently has one!

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The motor caravan is an Autosleeper, a company that has a good reputation by all accounts. The chassis is a Bedford CF2, one of the last examples built with the Opel 'high cam' engine and 5 speed gearbox. It also comes with almost a years MOT. Getting near to bedtime so goodnight all.

[andyram]

I won't go anywhere without a good Road Map, far more reliable than a Sat Nav and also makes the Brain work, remember my story of the journey back from Jock's Funeral when the Sat Nav wanted to send us SOUTH around the M25.

I left the road map behind by accident. Had put it on kitchen table ready to pick up on the morning we left home, unfortunately I forgot. I remember on holiday last year, leaving the Bluebell Railway when the Sat Nav charger broke and the IPhone battery died. I used the map to get home then. Was annoyed with myself for forgetting it this time around. I could have done with it on Saturday when we managed an ad hoc detour to avoid the M5 gridlock.