Early Risers.

[NGT6 1315]

Mawnin' awl. Kitties were getting noisy before 6 am, so here I am…

 

 

 

It would probably have improved if German TV was any better. Sadly, they choose to re-sync foreign series (ever seen that? It's ghastly ) and worse; import Dutch TV formats and even programs! (think big brother et all )

 

 

Don't get me started on this infatuation with resyncing… When the original Star Trek series was first synced for German TV decades ago, those responsible chose to give it a jolly and humorous tone which in most of the scenes so affected did not really exist in the original, apparently because the syncers of the time did not really see Star Trek as a serious format. Though I guess Austrian viewers may be even worse off because as far as I know, with synchronisations developed in Austria proper it is not uncommon to even substitute standard words with colloquial Austriacisms and to match pronunciation of foreign names and other expressions to German. I think that really turns any serious format into a parody…

 

Also, I once read of studies which if I am not mistaken were conducted in Scandinavian countries where resyncing is the exception, stating that it could be demonstrated that viewing English language films and series unsynced and subtitled constitutes a significant aid in improving vocabulary and expression skills. Actually, I myself do prefer watching films and my favourite series in English whenever possible.

[roundhouse]

We were in a cinema last night. Well one that's now converted to a Wetherspoons. The plaza in Rugeley is one of the the better Wetherspoons.

 

Finished with a few beers back at the pub next to the hotel with a group of fellow Frermo attendees.

 

I spent a good part of the day sorting out problems on Fort Myers. All but one turnout working but JMRI won't start properly on the touch screen. It keeps loading the Banbury track plan then locks up.

 

Luckily bring a Freemo meet, the turnouts were operated by hand. Will try the laptop this morning.

Edited September 25, 2016 by roundhouse

[Oldddudders]

We were in a cinema last night. Well one that's now converted to a Wetherspoons. The plaza in Rugeley is one of the the better Wetherspoons.

Finished with a few beers back at the pub next to the hotel with a group of fellow Frermo attendees.

I spent a good part of the day sorting out problems on Fort Myers. All but one turnout working but JMRI won't start properly on the touch screen. It keeps loading the Banbury track plan then locks up.

Luckily bring a Freemo meet, the turnouts were operated by hand. Will try the laptop this morning.

Sherry and I were in the Rugeley 'Spoons more than once in April, bumping into a few people she knew, including her son's long-term ex!

 

Anent pubs you know, Ian, I see the Pilgrim in Dorking has closed, and may now be the subject of a squat. Dorking seems at one time to have held some sort of record for the number of pubs for a town of its size. Now many, if not most, are gone.

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a cloudy Charente though it is getting a bit brighter. Yesterday was restful. I even got chance to try out my new little pool vac and got a load of windblown sand out. The pool looks a lot cleaner. A good BBQ followed topped off by long game of Monopoly. Today we are apparently heading to La Rochelle for lunch and a walk round with the prospect of a good curry when we return.

 

Regards to all

 

Jamie

[Barry O]

Hey up.

Heavy rain here over night. My cricket match due to restart at 11am...well perhaps not.

 

Have a good day everyone and hope work isn't, too bad for everyone this week.

Baz

[Andrew P]

Hambleden ..  with records of cricket being played there about 1750 ish

 

Baz

Morning Baz, Think that might be HAMBLEDON in Hampshire? It has the Bat and Ball Pub opposite a Field where it is said Cricket started, Now I'm no Cricket fan but lived a couple of Miles away and often dined and supped Ale in the Old Pub with pics and pre photography drawings of very early cricket matches around the walls. Cricket is still played there today, (well maybe NOT TODAY as it's raining) but with your knowledge it would be good to know if it was the original Field. BTW There is also a Plaque there commemorating it.

[emt_911]

Morning all. Late on parade as I hadn't set the alarm deliberately. A bit overcast and it looks like we've had some rain.

 

A mundane day planned washing, ironing and generally recovering ready for another busy week.

 

Have a good day everyone

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Looks like it may rain but the Essex weather forecast suggests rain only for the area round Harlow. I don't think I will be doing too much today.

I will start packing for our trip to Cork (Thursday) but not today. The weather forecast for the week ahead would suggest taking a showerproof jacket would be sensible.

Tony

Edited September 25, 2016 by Tony_S

[southern42]

' Morning all from red dragon land.

 

Sunny but cold and damp start.  Eldest off home.  Youngest going for walk with friends round Holyhead Mountain, coming back later.

Let's see if we do anything! 

 

Enjoy the day and don't get up to too much mischief.  ER...no giggling at the back there...

[lightengine]

Bright, slightly blustery day here in sunny Teignmouth.

Three years after marking 48 areas of our road to be repaired it is finally being resurfaced. 3 or 4 days next week the road will be closed. At present it is uneven in parts similar to waves on the seashore. Lets see what next week brings.

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

We had some rain earlier but bright(ish) and breezy now. Sunny spells and possible heavy showers forecast.

Rather a late start today (for us) after our evening out. We had a great meal, super food and very friendly and attentive staff, at "The Grumpy Mole" in Cheam Village (formerly The Bell Inn for those who know the area) and can thoroughly recommend it. After that we walked back to son Steve's flat for a few more drinks and didn't home get to bed until about 2.00am.

Today will be spent doing "not a lot" but railways (playing with)  and rugby (watching) will definitely be on the agenda.

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited September 25, 2016 by grandadbob

[petethemole]

Mornin' awl from a sunny but windy Gateway to The World. We had a bit of a gale and some heavy rain overnight, which woke me up from what was one of my better sleeps.

 

Tony, when in Cork it's always wise to have a showerproof jacket. It's a lovely city to visit, and to live in according to a former colleague from the 70s who became a lecturer at UCC Cork and only recently retired. Kent Station has an early 0-4-2 on display (No 36 of 1847).

 

I had a tree surgeon round yesterday. I had problems caused by roots lifting the slab path. They came from a row of flowering cherries that were quite mature and I'd decided to take them out. Also pruning them regularly was a pain as they were too close to the fence. On cutting down some also turned out to be diseased. I now have no washing line as one end was tied to one of the trees. A temporary solution will be found. He's coming back to grub out the roots and relay the path in concrete. I have steel line pole that I took out years ago and didn't re-erect, so I'll get him to concrete that in while the mixer's here.

 

The Grumpy Mole sounds like my kind of restaurant. At those prices I would be, very. This mole thinks anything over £10 for a main is a waste of modelling tokens.

 

Belated birthday greetings to Gordon.

 

Have a good day.

 

Pete

[Ashcombe]

Bright, slightly blustery day here in sunny Teignmouth.

Three years after marking 48 areas of our road to be repaired it is finally being resurfaced. 3 or 4 days next week the road will be closed. At present it is uneven in parts similar to waves on the seashore. Lets see what next week brings.

Good luck with that!

 

Near to my flat in Babbacombe, the main road (A379) has been closed for resurfacing which was supposed to last for 10 days from the 12th September. Last time I looked it was still closed! The chaos caused by double decker buses being rerouted down a residential street with parking on one side is quite an experience, especially when viewed from the top deck of one such bus.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A bit blustery here this morning but the rain seems to have stopped. LE I take it they are going to resurface the entire road which is much better than they do around here. The potholes are marked out for repair but it takes so long that the potholes have got so large that they've swallowed the markings, so they are marked out again and again the markings disappear. Belated birthday wishes to Gordon for yesterday, congratulations and commisserations where neccessary, be back later.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone.

 

Bright and sunny here in the North West, a very late lie in today, (I never set the alarm at weekends) but I guess we both needed it. Some more unspecified pottering will be under taken this morning, perhaps I'll even get to finish the regulated DC power supplies I've been working on, who knows?

 

This afternoon I'll be in the kitchen making spiced apple and parsnip soup for tea and maybe they'll be enough left to freeze for the future too.

 

Back later.

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Nine pages will be water under the bridge, I'm afraid, and I now can only offer generic greetings to those who are deserving thereof, and ask that if anything important has happened since Thursday, please let me know.

 

Trip to Worcester went well, and we both liked the city a lot.  However, the trip was hectic, and the traffic on Friday in both Worcester and Droitwich was pretty bad.  And on the way home, switched on the headights, to find that I was driving a cyclops.  It was fine on the way down, but not on the return, so that's a trip to the garage to get a new bulb fitted.  Looking at the back, with the connectors and things, I stop and reflect that I used to pop to Halfords for a Lucas sealed beam unit - took off the retaining ring, took off the connector, and then reversed the process - time elapsed about three minutes.

 

Weather here is dire, and the car boot this morning was a small collection of individuals with a small collections of soggy items. 

 

Back again later/tomorrow.

Regards to All

Stewart

[Purley Oaks]

Afternoon all

 

Bright and sunny here just now, hope it stays that way. Had a great walk up on Salisbury Crags yesterday afternoon, very windy but also warm. Gabe promised to take me out for a very late lunch afterwards at the Salisbury, opposite the Commonwealth Pool. The Salisbury used to be a great student dive called The Crags but has been gentrified-up, likewise the prices. Good lunch, though. Masses of students and parents about yesterday, must be one of the uni open days.

 

Just made an apple and blackberry frangipane tart for later. Youngest son had promised to make us Sunday lunch, but as it's lunchtime already and he hasn't appeared from a night-out, I imagine it won't be ready until 5pm, so more of a very late lunch/tea/early supper. His plans are for chicken fajitas, so looking forward to a margarita later. Frangipane for dessert.

 

Hope your day goes well

 

Mal

[Tony_S]

 

Tony, when in Cork it's always wise to have a showerproof jacket. It's a lovely city to visit, and to live in according to a former colleague from the 70s who became a lecturer at UCC Cork and only recently retired. Kent Station has an early 0-4-2 on display (No 36 of 1847).

 

...

 

Pete

I had gathered from Matthew's comments also, that rainwear would be advisable. He said he had been told that the rainfall in Cork was similar to Utrecht but Cork has considerably more days in which rainfall occurs. He popped into the university on his arrival to let the geography department know he was in town as he knew that they had a PhD student doing research with the Polish community. The university were very welcoming and have been very kind in allowing access to resources.

Tony

[lightengine]

Good luck with that!

Near to my flat in Babbacombe, the main road (A379) has been closed for resurfacing which was supposed to last for 10 days from the 12th September. Last time I looked it was still closed! The chaos caused by double decker buses being rerouted down a residential street with parking on one side is quite an experience, especially when viewed from the top deck of one such bus.

It's going to be fun as there is a fair bit of parking and its on the Country Bus route around town, 3 an hour.

Have you been on the top deck front left seat as the bus goes up the hill at Shaldon after the holiday camp. It feels like you are going to take the corner of the roof of the house off. Something has hit it already as the corner has been repaired already.

[lightengine]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A bit blustery here this morning but the rain seems to have stopped. LE I take it they are going to resurface the entire road which is much better than they do around here. The potholes are marked out for repair but it takes so long that the potholes have got so large that they've swallowed the markings, so they are marked out again and again the markings disappear.

Yes we have had that. 2 sets of markings have vanished. One pot hole has been badly repaired 5 times this year.

[PhilJ W]

Yes we have had that. 2 sets of markings have vanished. One pot hole has been badly repaired 5 times this year.

So the road was done after the pothole took up the entire road?

[The Stationmaster]

Evening all,

 

Wer are returned from the soggy west.  With so many pages past since my last attendance here I will simply offer felicitations, commiserations and congratulations as appropriate - apologies for nothing more.

 

Good train ride down with an excellent GWR Brunch although an interesting speed of service as the main course was ordered as we sped through Berkshire and served as we sped through Somerset - but it was very good and the gap had been filled by repeated offerings of nice toast.  The booked Hertz Ford Focus turned out to be a Renault Captur - an interesting device of obviously Gallic origin with a satnav which took several days to turn into a proper moving map display and which wasn't much good as such a thing but a nice comfy driving position and reasonably economical despite a lot of time in lower gears - especially when Mrs Stationmaster directed me to a shortcut which she decided was shown on the map as a 'yellow' road but in fact turned out to be not only 'white' but very green - with grass growing in the middle for much of its length - it was the only single track road I have ever been on which in a distance of several miles had absolutely no passing places whatsoever.

 

The afternoon/evening of arrival was properly conducted starting with a visit to Camborne to see a couple of old friends in Trelowarren Street (no money spent) the fish & chips in the evening in Falmouth

 

Fortunately the road down to Tregothnan - the home of Cornwall's tea estate - did have passing places and was actually quite wide in places but alas if you want a  tour you have to book at least a day in advance and it's £65 (sixty five) per head, however we did get a free cuppa just for visiting the shop.  Thence to St Mawes and a  boat trip to Falmouth & back on a delightfully choppy sea although one or two other passengers on the boat back were going a very odd colour - between arrival and departure a nice pasty was duly consumed in Falmouth plus a major saving was made on a remaindered railway book at Trago Mills. Friday evening was the raison d'etre for our trip, the wedding party of an old friend of Mrs Stationmaster's and her lady love - great evening complete with a  really good singer (100% '60s stuff) and part of the Truro Rockchoir also doing their stuff plus a good feed.

 

Saturday we visited the NT property at Godolphin thence a road tour in driving rain via Penzance (cheapest petrol in Cornwall), St Just, Hayle, St Ives and Potreath, and back to our hotel near St Anes for dinner - which came with the most appalling mashed potato I have come across since I left school and mashed swede and petit pois both cooked beyond their point of endurance (however their breakfasts have been good).

 

Back by train today and with the unusual added cachet of passing non-stop through Bristol TM on the middle line.  This train dropped a bit of time due to a poorly engine in the leading power car but connections duly made at Reading without trouble, now out for eats tonight as Mrs Stationmaster has had a tiring day.

[New Haven Neil]

Wow, tired.

 

8am book on could have been a bit earlier, as my loco had been left hemmed in with other stock that I had to shunt out first with the battery electric - difficult on your own!  Still, she steams very quickly, under an hour this time as I get the hang of how to fire her so I was ready in plenty of time.

 

The day was going well when a little excitement occurred, a young man (not a passenger, just someone on the cliffs) decided to jump off the rocks at the seaward end of our line (the kids call it tombstoning) but didn't calculate his trajectory correctly, and ended up with a broken ankle.  He was lucky not to be dead, according to witnesses, as there was no way he could clear the rocks unless he had a jet pack!  We had Paramedics and eventually the Coastguard as they worked out how to extract him.  That ruined the timetable! 

 

Later there was an almost tropical downpour, while I was at the far end of the line, just leaving the station.  The Steamplex has no cab.  My waterproof was in the messroom. I was much wet. Right through, undercrackers and all (TMI!) as the water ran down the back of my bib and brace overalls. Yeuch.  Still, an enjoyable day, the loco ran well, but I am going to be tired in the morning!  Not used to 9 hour days on the footplate.

[emt_911]

As predicted, a mundane day of washing, ironing and generally getting ready for another busy week.

 

Having seen the car in daylight after its treatment, it does look far better than the dealer managed.

[Kelly]

Evening all. Just back home from a excellent Scaleforum show.

 

Arrived safely Saturday and got the DEMU stand set up fairly quickly. Good responce to the stand etc it seemed. Grabbed a few items I wanted, and a few items I didn't think I wanted, but decided I did, and a fair few bargains from the bring and buy stand.

 

Saturday evening proved, interesting. Booked a B&B about 10 minutes from the venue. About the cheapest I could find, but still not cheap, arrived and got greeted by two eager and friendly spaniels. Was a bit annoying when one of the howled for a time later in the evening when her owner went out (apparently separation anxiety after a bad kennels experience), but they settled eventually.

 

Sunday, much the same as Saturday. The car came back much heavier, due to about 6 baseboards from Tim Horn. In the process of getting it all into the car (including 3 boxes of models/tools/kits for the stand, my mobility scooter, overnight bags and laptop bag etc) and secure I managed to somehow leave my walking stick behind! It is now going to be rather difficult to go out anywhere as I really cannot walk for long without either tripping/falling or a lot of pain without it. Guess I'll have to see if I can get another out of the physio dept (if I can work out how to contact them about it or if GP needs to be involved), or buy one.