Early Risers.

[Coombe Barton]

Some good news - my CT scan shows that the cancer has gone. So the op and chemo have worked.

 

 

 

Some seriously good news, Mal.

 

 

[emt_911]

3 hours to get to Wembley, an hour on site followed by 2 hours 40 to get home.

 

Nothing else is going to happen tonight so a bottle or two of old speckled hen and put my brain in neutral watching some television

 

Back later

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The Shenfield show was up to its usual standard and I found a couple of interesting railway railroad books on the RCTS stand. One was a book on American electric locomotives, quite fascinating. The other book, published in 1959 is entitled '36 miles of trouble' and is the story of the West River RR in Vermont. From what I've read so far it was the American equivalent of the Bishops Castle Railway, and both met their demise about the same time.

 

How many would claim to need to hang a 4-8-8-4 Big Boy in front of them and how many would own up to only a 0-4-0?

But what if the Big Boy was N scale and the 0-4-0 1 scale?

[grandadbob]

No update from Bob? Worrying

 

 

Hang on, I'll look under the car...

 

Well I ducked under the layout and missed so my head is intact. No Volvos were spotted en route. Decoder has been fitted with no mishaps and the loco has done a few laps in both directions with no problems. It would have done more but I noticed that my local football team Sutton Utd were actually on the telly  BT Sport today playing Tranmere. I don't normally watch the round ball game but decided to watch this rare event and they managed to win 1 - 0.  After that I watched proper sport played with a correctly shaped ball and saw Saracens beat Northampton although it took them a while to get going and then only when the Saints had a couple of guys put in the sin bin.

Later on my culinary skills were needed (unusually) and I made a sort of tortilla type thingy which we both thought very tasty. Apparently I will be allowed to make it again. (Sharp knives were used to slice things, butter was melted in a very hot pan etc and no injuries sustained) I even got the thing out of the pan onto a plate without dropping it.

Tomorrow I will be allowed to cook steak..........

.....boy am I living dangerously at the moment.

Another Speckled Hen has been poured and a period of relaxation is now called for after all this stress.  

Edited September 17, 2016 by grandadbob

[Horsetan]

.... what if the Big Boy was N scale and the 0-4-0 1 scale?

Regardless, you shouldn't hang either in front of you. That's no way to treat a model. Instead you should be able to balance it on your own suspension.

[lightengine]

Regardless, you shouldn't hang either in front of you. That's no way to treat a model. Instead you should be able to balance it on your own suspension.

have you got a spare HO Big Boy to double head with mine?

Edited September 17, 2016 by lightengine

[Coombe Barton]

Personal request.

 

Does anyone do an 0-2-0?

[Horsetan]

Personal request.

 

Does anyone do an 0-2-0?

You'll probably find some in France.

[Coombe Barton]

You'll probably find some in France.

 

 

So as we're substituting for an Alphabetique Francaise, an 0-1-0?

 

Yes, I made it up

[PhilJ W]

Care to spoil us with a title, or ISBN if it has one?

ISBN 0-7603-1359-8, title 'Electric Locomotives', author Brian Solomon. The other title having been published as long ago as 1959 does not have an ISBN number but if you Google 'West River R.R. Vermont' you will find a wealth of information including a 2 hour + documentary

[jamie92208]

So as we're substituting for an Alphabetique Francaise, an 0-1-0?

 

Yes, I made it up

Well there were some 0-3-0's built in Leeds that ran in Ireland.

 

Jamie

[Ohmisterporter]

A look at foggy Whitby earlier this week. 

 

Trawlers tied up at the quay.

 

 

The swing bridge opens to allow vessels to pass through. Splitting in the middle, each half swings independently. There are more houses, shops and the famous Abbey on top of the hill lost in the fog.

 

[Simon G]

A very pleasant day here, so time has been spent in the garden weeding. I seem to get a weed infestation with a different type of weed each year. I am sure they have some sort of conference to determine which type will invade my garden each year. Most of weeds have gone into the brown bin for collection, rather than risk spreading in home made compost. The exercise of weeding is gradually strengthening my back, although it still feel dodgy.

 

A package arrived today from a certain model rail retailer in Liverpool, with a load of replacements wheels for my old Triang wagons and Pullman coaches. The old wheels on the Pullman coaches were so "draggy" that my Railroad loco drive 9F couldn't even manage to pull seven of them without slipping to a halt. I will test the improvement later this week.

[Tony_S]

Evening all.

We must have had the slowest trip ever from home to near Kettering yesterday. We should have arrived at Aditi's brother's house at 12.30 and we were there after 2.30. The traffic was slow and I can only think it was due to the rain. We left Kettering for Solihull and the one hour trip was nearly double. I think this was due to drivers dithering at the end of the A14. M6 or M1 seemed a, confusing chonce perhaps. We had a very pleasant evening with my cousin. We went for a trip out to Stratford on Avon this afternon. It has changed a lot since I visited over 50 years ago.

We return to Essex on Sunday evening.

Tony

[Horsetan]

After today's comedy open mic session on the Forum, plus some testing HGV trips on Truck Simulator 2, Sunday will be all horse - two to exercise: the equine gin palace, and a grey mare who's been there, done that, and has several T-shirts to prove it. Just to make things more interesting, this will be an alcohack - we're calling in at various pubs.....

[emt_911]

I've just managed to finish the second bottle of beer after inspecting my eyelids earlier. Obviously there wasn't anything worth watching.

 

Night all

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone.

 

The weather has been glorious again today, very sunny and warm, tee shirt weather in fact and there were far too many young ladies wandering around wearing far to less in the line of clothing! This is something that I've started to notice again more recently, so I think the effects of all the drugs I've been on are slowly fading. So I'll have to be a bit more careful now I think, essentially when I'm driving ;-)

 

Max and I had a good time at Expo EM North, although I think he got a little bored after an hour or so, despite getting the opportunity to operate an engine on one of the layouts, so we left just after 12:00. Anyway I knew I wouldn't be able to do my usual thing, so I'll have a proper mooch around tomorrow morning when I'll go back on my own. But as the show is literally on my doorstep it was a good one to try him with, although I might leave the next one until his attention span increases a wee bit.

 

After dinner, we both ventured down my workshop, as he's desperately wanted to see what was inside for a while now, but again after about an hour or so he was starting to get bored. So it was back in the house for a quick drink before taking him back home to his Mum and Dad. It seems that he has an attention threshold of about an hour or so at the moment.

 

In the post this morning was a letter giving me a date for both my pre-op assessment AND the op on my left hand as well. Wednesday 5th October is the pre-op date and Saturday 15th October for the op itself. I've got to be on the ward for 7:30am, so I'm glad it's only a short walk from home. This will be followed by 6-8 weeks off work for recovery. Although I was off work for 10 weeks when I had my left thumb done in October 2014. I'm hoping then that I'll get full movement back once I've gone through all the post operative physiotherapy.

 

Anyway, back to this evening, which we spent watching Cirque Du Soleil, we weren't disappointed, there's only one word to describe the show spectacular, well worth going to see if you get the chance.

 

Duncan. I do like a glass or two of Old Speckled Hen myself, it's even better in draught form!

 

Goodnight all.

[JohnDMJ]

Good morning all!

 

 

3 hours to get to Wembley, an hour on site followed by 2 hours 40 to get home.

 

Nothing else is going to happen tonight so a bottle or two of old speckled hen and put my brain in neutral watching some television

 

Back later

 

 

Well I ducked under the layout and missed so my head is intact. No Volvos were spotted en route. Decoder has been fitted with no mishaps and the loco has done a few laps in both directions with no problems. It would have done more but I noticed that my local football team Sutton Utd were actually on the telly  BT Sport today playing Tranmere. I don't normally watch the round ball game but decided to watch this rare event and they managed to win 1 - 0.  After that I watched proper sport played with a correctly shaped ball and saw Saracens beat Northampton although it took them a while to get going and then only when the Saints had a couple of guys put in the sin bin.

Later on my culinary skills were needed (unusually) and I made a sort of tortilla type thingy which we both thought very tasty. Apparently I will be allowed to make it again. (Sharp knives were used to slice things, butter was melted in a very hot pan etc and no injuries sustained) I even got the thing out of the pan onto a plate without dropping it.

Tomorrow I will be allowed to cook steak..........

.....boy am I living dangerously at the moment.

Another Speckled Hen has been poured and a period of relaxation is now called for after all this stress.  

 

Seems to be a common theme here; Spotted Chicken Speckled Hen seems to be ruling the roost! Can't blame it either; it's my favourite home tipple too!

[Kelly]

Morning all. Hope everyone is well?

 

I have awoken early due to my back. Not really much point trying for more sleep as will need to be up in q few hours to drive to Manchester anyway. My back is at least feeling like it is slowly getting easier but I intend to mention it to the gp when I speak to her Tuesday about other problems.

[Gwiwer]

Good morning all!

Seems to be a common theme here; Spotted Chicken Speckled Hen seems to be ruling the roost! Can't blame it either; it's my favourite home tipple too!

 

 

I do like a glass or two of Old Speckled Hen myself, it's even better in draught form!

 

Partial to a drop or six myself.  It's the only British ale consistently available here and while it is better in draught it's bottle or nothing in this part of the world.  We often see other British brews but it seems to depend what came in on the boat as the same ones are seldom there on a weekly basis.  Referred to in this house as Spotted Chicken Beer.

 

Morning all.  A grey and gloomy one it is too.  Not too cold though.  Took the good lady to the airport last night and have had messages confirming her safe transit through Singapore and arrival in Dubai where she is now enjoying the lounge for a six-hour rest before flying on the Heathrow.

 

Breakfast for one at the cafe this morning.  This week's brekky special is one of their most popular: Gujarati-spiced potatoes, roti, seasoned fried egg with red onion and corainder-leaf topping.  Warming, filling and very very good.

[NGT6 1315]

Mawnin' awl. Had been absent due to Jo's funeral yesterday, so I hope you folks have been well. He had wished a woodland burial, which I think is a rather nice way of finding a final resting place and is very much in character for him, too.

 

It's cooled down significantly with a major rain front having discharged itself since the afternoon yesterday, most likely signifying that this summer is now on its way out. Fittingly, distribution of our new weather jackets for work will commence on Monday, so I will see to picking up mine. Not sure yet what we'll be doing today, though. I suppose something suitable for recharging batteries is likely!

 

Have a good one, everyone…

[emt_911]

Morning all. It seems that my internal alarm clock is an ER because I hadn't set an alarm last night.

 

A few things to do today as I have to go to the main office tomorrow morning for three days.

 

Have a good day everyone

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a village basking in the morning sun. Breakfast being consumed but the boss was up before me so I'm being subjected to the X Factor on catch up. Car packing to be completed after coffee has been consumed. Then late morning off to Pompey to catch the ferry.

 

Yesterday's tour of the Nottingham tram system went well. 7 of us had a good time and the system appears to be well designed and was operating well. It was also very wel used. One great point was how several of the staff noted our interest and came and talked to us telling us interesting things about the system. They were obviously enthusiastic and professional.

 

Anyway regards to all and I will be in touch in due course from France.

 

Jamie

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

Yesterday's journey to Manchester turned out to be not quite as planned.  When I got to MK Central the 08.08 was showing as 'on time' but the minutes of lateness ratcheted up as I drank my tea and ate a breakfast baguette, peaking at 14.  Everything northbound was losing that sort of time between Euston and MK.  Once aboard, it managed to lose a further 4 minutes.  The 10 minute connection for Oxford Road at Stockport was clearly not going to happen so I stayed on board.  At Piccadilly a briskish stride to the footbridge and the island platform, there to board an incoming 185, got me to Oxford Road with three minutes before the departure of the 10.16, first stop Urmston.  File under 'more by luck than judgement', I think.  The return journey was earlier than planned because the courtesy Routemaster was timed so as to just miss the Manchester train.  At  Piccadilly the 18.15 was cancelled but I was allowed on the 17.35 which terminated at MK.  In the end I got home a good half hour earlier than expected.

 

Jamie, I regret any distress caused by the photo in Points.  It so happens that I was with the editor yesterday and had I known of this I would have raised it with him for all the good it will do.  For those who do not know, JohnDMJ and I met on the Ffestiniog Travel Christmas and New Year holiday in Switzerland.  We both prefer an early breakfast so as to make the most of the opportunities presented by a first class travel pass valid on nearly everything that moves.  By the time we have finished scavenging we are ready for the 8.15 bus into Interlaken and another day exploring a wonderful country and its equally wonderful transport network.  Some of the more sluggish and unimaginative members of the group are probably not even conscious by then, poor things.  That reminds me: I really ought to pay for this year's expedition.  I shall do so after Scaleforum.

 

More catching up to do today so best wishes to all travellers and the ailing, recovering, supporting, grieving, missing and depressed.  My fry-up cannot wait much longer ...

 

Chris