Early Risers.

[andyram]

Evening all. Good to see Grandadbob putting in an appearance on these pages today. I hope to hear more from you soon.

Today has been an eventful day, but the weather has been the worst of the week with persistent rain that was very heavy at times. Sarah had wanted to visit a couple of local parks - one containing a few small animals, a craft centre and a farm shop - the other containing a cider barn. The weather put a stop to that. Instead we ventured out towards Ilfracombe, stopping off at the wildlife and dinosaur park just outside Combe Martin. We arrived in torrential rain, but managed to do the indoor bits including a small dinosaur museum, the reptile house, an Egyptian pharoah display and the bug house before lunch. The rain did ease off in the afternoon and allowed us to go and visit the outdoor areas containing the usual collections of lemurs, meerkats, wallabies and small monkeys. Larger animals included a couple of wolf breeds, some sea lions and some lions. Other attractions included a number of large dinosaur models, many of which moved appropriately and let out some appropriate sounds. They were very impressive although I was more fascinated by the fossilised dinosaur eggs in the museum building.

Whilst strolling around the park we became aware of a familiar voice coming from someone at an adjacent pen. We turned round to see who it was and came face to face with the comedian Bill Bailey!

Later we moved on for a brief visit to Ilfracombe. The rain had eased off, but returned once we had completed the shops and had a stop off in the arcades so it forced us to head for home. On the way back we had another, less pleasant, close encounter. Coming round the corner we came face to face with some cockwomble, heading towards us on the wrong side of the road as he overtook a horse box. He only just missed us!

This evening Amber is in disgrace after pulling at the curtains in our bedroom whilst messing about. She has managed to pull them off three of the hooks and the webbing has slightly come away from the curtain. We have done a temporary repair, but I am sure I will have to come clean with the owners and see how much it will cost to repair. I was very angry with her at the time, but I suppose my previous point puts things into context - at least we are here and not in some hospital somewhere (or worse!)

Anyway tomorrow is our last full day. We hope to go to the cider barn before taking Amber on the beach at Minehead (weather permitting). I am trying to convince Sarah to go there by steam train, but I may be pushing my luck. Sadly plans to visit the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway on the way home have been scuppered due to the fact they are running lawn mowers all weekend.

 

Enjoy your evening, pictures to follow when the little curtain vandal goes to sleep.

[Donw]

Afternoon All

 

Wow what a catch up.  Hard work it was. 

 

Far far too much to comment on individual posts but all have been read and rated.  My like finger is a bit worn out now.

 

AWOL tomorrow morning as I have to take the car to have the air conditioning serviced - it was fine when the car had its MOT but has since developed a really musty smell, and needs to be deodorised/debactieriaed.  Also, Lily's trip to the vet was a tad expensive as she has been prescribed a new anti-itch drug which was somewhere between OUCH and OUCH.  As usual at this time of the year, she's infested by harvest mites which are quite bad this year, and also quite early.

 

So it was farewell to another possible new loco as the modelling tokens are now unavailable - more so as yesterday my most favouritest machine in the house - the hoover - made a hell of a racket when started, the belt broke into two pieces, and when it flew upwards, it removed a big chunk of plastic moulding which flew up, hit me in the face, and rendered the hoover knackered,  It is only a couple of years old, and clearly was not made to last, and it's made my the brand leader, whose products are now just so much Chinese carp.

 

So we all went to Skipton, and indulged in a couple of decent pies.

 

Back later/tomorrow.

Regards to All

Stewart

We had a problem with one dog who every summer would scratch and then lick causing a big sore known as an acral lick granuloma. Because it always started as the grass started to grow the vet suspected a contact dermatitis. However anther vet later recommend Advantix which as well as Fleas kills ticks, sand flies, mosquitoes and stable flies. It cured the problem immediately. I think it might have killed or detered the midges. We still use it on different dogs  because with all the wild deer, ticks are a problem round here.

It might be worth a try it is a spot on and lasts about 4 weeks. I think it was around £60 for 4 doses for both dogs ( i.e. 16 weeks each) .

Don

[AndyB]

Evening all,

I see GB posted earlier and I've also swapped text messages with him.

Hope he is back with us soon, if for no other reason we really need a professional diy-er on the case.

My head hurts after my earlier close encounter with one of the roof rafters.      

Andy

[Tony_S]

I found some motor caravans online and told Aditi I was really excited about some of them and wanted to go and look. I said we could trade one of the cars in as we don't really need two. At this point Aditi said there was no way she was trading her car in! I said we wouldn't need the Land Rover, at which point she decided we didn't want a motor caravan and could make more effort to go out for picnics and day trips. I don't think she could cope with me being enthusiastic.

Matthew seemed cheerful tonight. He seems to have found what appears to be an even better accommodation prospect, not too expensive, geographically convenient etc. It is a small bedroom in a shared house, 400 euros a month bills included. The other two tenants are a nurse and someone who works for Apple. He went to a Polish charity in Cork today for a chat and seems very happy to get involved but needs to visit the police tomorrow to start the Irish equivalent of CRB as some people are "vulnerable". He reckons he may be able to do his work before Christmas. Perhaps we will all be able to go somewhere together. Matthew said Christmas at our house seems to be be me and his Mum, shopping till we drop and feeding lots of people who fall asleep after lunch. He thinks we should do something different. I suggested pretending to leave the country.

Edited July 28, 2016 by Tony_S

[AndyB]

Just had the unusual (for here) sight of a Chinook following the Lune in poor visiblity at about 150 feet or less - what a racket and it caused my TV box to freeze (well that was a coincidence, but stangely it froze on a frame of a guy wearing a pilot's headsetand flying a Cessna).

 

Chinooks are a regular sight around here.

Sometimes lower than others. Not unknown for the windows to rattle. 

When my daughter was a toddler I told her the navigation lights that she could see showed that the aircrew were waving to her.

So, she always waved "back" whenever they came over.  

I'd like to think once in a while they looked down.    

Edited July 28, 2016 by AndyB

[Tony_S]

Chinooks are a regular sight around here.

Sometimes lower than others. Not unknown for the windows to rattle. 

When my daughter was a toddler I told her the navigation lights that she could see showed that the aircrew were waving to her.

So, she always waved "back" whenever they came over.  

I'd like to think once in a while they looked down.

 

We used to get a flight of three Chinooks heading south each week. Once instead of following the nearby A130 they flew over our house. I was talking to a neighbour and lots of stuff fell off his garage shelving.

[emt_911]

Night all

[Tony_S]

For Mike (stationmaster)

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/norway/articles/rig-spotting-in-north-sea-cruising-next-big-trend/

 

Tony

[The Stationmaster]

Great to see GDB back among us; I look forward to boring you on Sunday Bob  (with nattering and 'explanations' - no drill bits will be involved) .

 

G'night all

[AndyID]

The chinook here are usually submerged in the lake. Just as well too. You wouldn't want them flying around whacking people in the fissog.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[AndyID]

Here's a screen shot of part of the picture I was sent.

Impressive!

 

Puppet.jpg

 

Does Edward Woodward go in that bit at the top?

[Tony_S]

The chinook here are usually submerged in the lake. Just as well too. You wouldn't want them flying around whacking people in the fissog.

When I was at school the only Chinook we learned about was the wind.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone.

 

After the dull start to the day and an uneventful trip to the orifice, with in minutes of getting there, it started to rain and has been on and off all day.

 

Today is our number 1 sons 33rd birthday, however, getting back late from work has meant that we've not been able to get round to see him as he was out with his wife for a meal.

 

The team meeting was interesting, if only because an awful lot of absolute rubbish was discussed. On the upside I did get a lot more sponsorship for my up coming swim.

 

I also booked some time off next month, 10 days holiday, 4 pre-retirement days (2 for August and 2 for September) and with the August bank holiday, it means that I finish on the 12 August and return on 5 September, a three week break, yeay.

 

Baz. I too found writing poetry helped with combating the black dog. But not just poetry, writing what was on my mind also helped too, as seeing it in black and white seemed to help put it into perspective.

 

Dave. Like many others have said, don't rush, take your time.

 

Duncan. I hope tomorrow goes as planned, I know only to well what can go wrong.

 

Grandad Bob. Welcome back.

 

It's late, so it's off to bed, goodnight all.

[lightengine]

Does Edward Woodward go in that bit at the top?

At first they thought Edward Woodward would but Edward Woodward wouldn't

Edited July 28, 2016 by lightengine

[trisonic]

A beautiful song to end the night by Kern/Hammerstein.

 

A clever play with words in the lyrics...

 

 

 

G’night all, Pete.

[roundhouse]

Good morning here in Surrey

 

Only train that we will be travelling on today is the L & B if all goes to plan.

 

Awake early so decided to see how the TV PC is doing. Its now downloading WIndows 10. Fingers crossed it installs before we depart this morning.

Edited July 29, 2016 by roundhouse

[emt_911]

Morning all. A grey start to the day and It's meant to rain later.

 

Hopefully the site visit will be nice and short so I can return before the rain starts to write some reports.

 

Another coffee before I head off.

 

Have a good day everyone

[DDolfelin]

Good morning all from a survivor of a routing experience.

Wanted to put a curve on the edge of a length of timber and bought (yet another) bit for the router.

All tightened and ready to go.

Unfortunately the mandrel was microscopically too large for the new bit so tightening had little effect.

Press the trigger and the bit with a bent shank flew past my ear.

I blame Gordon S. - he got me routing stuff in the first place.

DIY worthy of Bob.

[JohnDMJ]

Good morning all!

 

Another overcast POTS day here so far! Just about recovered from the trials of earlier this week and seem to be approaching something near normality; not sure from which direction, though.

 

Hope the travelling isn't too tedious today; almost looking forward to RMT's 5 day strike as, on previous days, we've had a better train service on strike days than usual! Must wait and see what this one brings!

 

Just seen some disturbing news on another medium; fake unmarked police cars are flagging down motorists on the M25 in Essex and the false 'officers' therein are stealing the stopped vehicles. The advice, at least in Essex, is to only stop for a marked car or to phone 999 with the registration of the unmarked vehicle (using a phone whilst driving?) If they can remember which set of plates it's using that week, they can tell you if it's genuine or not!

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/14648175.Warning_issued_not_to_pull_over_for_unmarked_police_vehicles_on_M25/?Ref=fbpg

 

Wishes, greetings, etc. distributed to all in need as appropriate.

Edited July 29, 2016 by JohnDMJ

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It is a somewhat cloudy morning here, but generally bright and reasonably cool.

 

I got an e-mail this morning from an internet site that I use from time to time, to tell me that their servers have been hacked and they have lost a large quantity of customer data - great!  Before anyone says it, it isn't a phising mail - it's genuine.

 

Cyber crime is getting to be a real pain.  This is an area where countries really need to work together to sort this out.

 

Anyway - better get on.  I have a report to get finished before I can go home this afternoon.

 

Have a good day everyone...

[Donw]

Pete I just get video not available on that one.

 

Just had to bring the dog in Barking before 7am. Someone was riding by on a horse. Monty cannot bear the clip clop.

 

For us the Hinkley Point review may be good news. We are not that far away and a nuclear project described as risky is not very reassuring. 

 

Make the best of the day

 

Don

[DDolfelin]

Strange mathematics being used for other builds of Nuclear Power Stations.

Investment obtained on the promise of a very inflated return when it starts producing?

Who is going to pay the inflated prices?

Oh! .... it's me.

[AndrewC]

Morning all from the borough of boring. Off to the post office to collect my latest Ebay win. Timing is everything with our postie. He managed to slip the note in the mail slot at the exact time my son was in the shower yesterday morning. I think they train for things like that. I did receive my package from Coastal DCC though. Ordered Wednesday, received Thursday. Can't complain about that. Some of my modelling friends in Canada have been complaining about Canada Customs as of late. Seems they've been rather slow with the clearing. Normally a parcel from Hatton's etal would take around 12 days air. They've been taking well over 30.

 

In my experience there are 3 types of Chinooks. The noisy oversized military things that pass overhead on a daily basis, AndyId's style of chinook that is best grilled over cedar with some lemon and dill, and a warm wind that comes off the mountains delivering a break from the prairie winter and causing migraines to many. Which leads me to my bugbear of the day. Its a First Nations word and is correctly pronounced shin-ook, not chin-ook. Just like Spokane is pronounced can and not kane. (that is a long story and the city name was misspelt when it was incorporated according to legend)

 

enough inane blathering for the day. Go forth and enjoy this Friday.

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a rather grey and slightly damp village. Not quite sure what the agenda is for the day but no doubt things will become clearer in due course.  However hopefully I will be down at the clubrooms tonight.

 

Baz, writing our thoughts own is a very powerful tool. It certainly worked for me when I was a very lonely 18 year old in a bed sit in London, when all my troubles fitted on one side of letter writing paper, things didn't seem too bad. With the addition of some Beatles Music on my little Phillips cassette recorder life went up from there.

 

Anyway, glad to see Grandadbob back on these pages, just hope we hear from some of our other missing brethren.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie