Early Risers.

[laurenceb]

Night all

[Horsetan]

1 in the morning, and I'm staring at an irregularly-shaped sheet of nickel-silver, wondering how to eke three different footplates out of it.....

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[JohnDMJ]

Morning all! (Not saying 'Good' as I'm up at this hour on a Sunday with no good reason!)

 

Much, and little, achieved yesterday; more patch cables ordered for my network and various manuals printed.

 

Suitable Roco locomotive identified for my experiment so just need to design a suitable 8' x 4' layout to accommodate 4 or 5 Swiss locos with trains, incorporating TrainSafe and train detection with my Maerklin CS controller and Android remote. If space permits, a separate N Scale layout will be included from the same controller!

 

At this time of the morning and given the above, I'm trying to decide if I'm having nightmares, pleasant dreams, or simply hallucinating!

 

Until a more sensible hour (UK time) ...

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

"From the four corners of the globe comes the notion that the globe has four corners."  That is just a sample of the wit and wisdom of Les Barker which I enjoyed last night.  There was much mirth and cackling and I would have expected nothing less.

 

I was less amused when postie came.  There was an envelope from yet another charity enclosing a book of draw tickets and a sheet of sticky labels.  As I have never had any contact with the outfit in question I sent all the stuff back with a letter asking them not to contact me again.  The really annoying bit was that the return address is the sane as that of a charity which I have supported in the past and would do again if only they were not always on the ear'ole.  My name and address is not a marketable commodity and if I thought for one minute that an offence under the Data Protection Act had been committed I would refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.  Meanwhile I am no longer prepared to deal with such an outfit and will spend part of today drafting a letter saying just that.  Sadly the charity is Macmillan.  What a position for a cancer patient to be in.  Foot, gun, bang.

 

On that less than happy note, best wishes to all travellers and to the ailing, recovering, supporting, grieving, missing and depressed.

 

Chris

[Oldddudders]

Morning all

 

Yesterday was awfully tedious. Having been with the horses much of the day, prepared to calm them when the noisy machine got too close, it was all pretty much of an anti-climax when the time finally arrived at about 15.30. The operator had changed the tool on his tractor, which made it substantially less noisy, and the girls, who I was holding on headcollars and lead-ropes, were positively drowsy! But I couldn't have settled anywhere else, so the best was done. The downside to the work in the field is that there is virtually no pasture left, and I fear they will break out. I have had to install much more electric fence due to natural barriers disappearing, but am less than confident. We will see.

 

I was hopelessly tired by the time I got indoors last night, so being awoken at 00.30 by some sort of cramp in my left knee wasn't all that welcome. It soon released, though.

 

F1 in about an hour, so may manage to get morning feeds done in time for that.

[BoD]

Morning all

 

Today I am off to a National Trust property which just happens to have a permanent model railway. It isn't too far away, yet I haven't visited despite being having been a member for some time.* They are holding an 'open day' where, apart from seeing the layouts, you can meet the modellers responsible for them. Given the age profile of NT members I don't think the layouts will be in the loft.

 

I suspect this is the same event that Baz and Two Sugars are attending.

 

Have a good Sunday if you are able.

Enjoy the ring of Kerry, Tony. The advice is to go anti-clockwise unless you are just heading out to the lakes.

 

*something which I am reconsidering given recent events in Borrowdale.

[Barry O]

Sunny morning here.

 

I look forward to meeting two sugars and bod today...other RMWebbers will be there as well. I must visit this morning as I am umpiring again tonight.

 

Have a great day everyone.

Baz

[roundhouse]

A good day yesterday in Wigan visiting the show and chatting with various people. After that it was beer time with a few of our Cumbrian friends before they headed off North to catch one of the Loco hauled services and we headed to Manchester for more beer.

 

Our train left Manchester just after 8pm and once back in Brum we decided that we had enough beer so back to the hotel.

 

Awoken at 6am when the hotel fire alarm sounded but it was soon switched off. I would have woken up around that time anyway so no problem for me.

 

This morning we are off to the Severn Valley Railway for a quick trip.

[AndrewC]

Morning all from the boring borough.

 

Yesterday's "work" turned into a clusterf*ckery of biblical proportions. I won't go into the gory technical details but suffice to say someone didn't do their job someone else decided to go into jobsworth mode. Cockwomble 1 hadn't provisioned all of the service accounts needed to implement the new system. Cockwomble 2 refused to do their piece of work as he wanted a new change request stating the one in place from last weekend was no longer valid. I'm expecting a rather large amount of excrement to be hurled at the rotary oscillation device at high velocity first thing tomorrow morning. The upside is I now get to relax today and spend time in the shed and with the BBQs. Now to select a few beers to chill for later and fire up BBQ #1 for breakfast.

 

enjoy the day everyone.

[Smiffy2]

Morning all.

Cool and dark. Up early for the Grand Prix after a busy day yesterday. I finally managed to get access to internet banking in France and then screwed it up by entering the wrong password... but I did manage to attach my Telepeage doofer, just have to wait a month to see if it works. And had time with both Daisy and Henry, which was great.

 

Very busy next week as well, with no less than three school governor meetings and at least one for the new war memorial. One of the things we have to do in the near future is to search through the local history photo archive for illustrations for an information board. Looking forward to that. Plus, of course, tending the Flowers. And next week would have seen my father's 98th birthday.

 

Best wishes all round, enjoy the race!

[Debs.]

Passepartout and I, managed to make it along to Wigan.......We found it interesting with a good range of exhibitors and layouts; although, aside from the lengthy queue in the refreshment hall, I thought it seemed rather 'quiet' (that choice of word, also representing something of an in-joke, for those in the know about my current situation!).

 

The exhibit that most engaged me, was something of a surprise: No. 76 - "Nitinat Lumber", modeled in 1:48 (0n30) and set in Canada.

I really liked the well executed scenic interest, attention to detail and the Shay locomotives.

 

I have only one negative to report:

The curse of the giant backpack, has evidently been joined by a new menace: the addition of the full-size umbrella strapped {vertically} to the rear of the giant backpack!........Especially hazardous, when one is 5' 14" tall! {or rather 5' 16.5" in yesterday`s choice of footwear}.......My face having been seriously whacked by several, suddenly-reversing umbrella handles.

[NGT6 1315]

Ahoy y'all. Just on my break and will be sortieing from Heiterblick in a few minutes...

 

 

More later, I suppose!

[emt_911]

Morning all. With not having to work today I had a really good nights sleep but was still up in time to listen to the start of the GP.

 

Not a lot planned for today, just a few things to sort out for the upcoming week.

 

Have a good day everyone

[newbryford]

Bright and Sunny due west of Dingle Territory.

 

Quick tidy up at wife's work to earn my bacon butty, then off to Wigan. GP being recorded to watch later.

 

Cheers,

Mick

Edited October 2, 2016 by newbryford

[jonny777]

Good morning all from a very sunny Somerset.

 

Central heating came on for the first time this autumn. I'm not surprised as the outside temperature fell to 5C overnight and it felt decidedly chilly when I first woke up, but managed to doze off again and had a dream I was back at work. Worrying.

 

I bought a small (50g) tub of Magnesium Sulphate from the local chemist for Mrs Jonny to put on a rather frightening looking boil she has appearing on her stomach. The tub cost me £1.65, but the instructions were on the underside of the label which could not be separated from the right side and so she had no idea how long to leave the paste smothered dressing on her skin before removing it.

 

I tried several health websites and eventually found 48 hours to be the answer; but in doing so I was bombarded with adverts for Amazon.co.uk to purchase an idential 50g (same brand) tub from their site. However, their price was £3.52 (more than double). I decided to "review" the Amazon product with the price comparison as my main focus, and suggesting that theirs was a rip-off.

 

Not surprisingly, they have emailed me saying they refuse to publish my review. Their reason was that reviews are only meant to be for those who have actually bought the item from them. So, my advice is "buyer beware" if you still shop at that site. Check prices in your local high street, and/or elsewhere on the net.

[Happy Hippo]

Morning all

 

Today I am off to a National Trust property which just happens to have a permanent model railway. 

I must make sure I find this place as the Obergrumpenfuhrer has been hinting at a few days visit up to the North East.

 

She is also very keen on NT properties

 

I can just imagine the look on her face as we roll up to the property, and then I say those immortal words:

 

'Oh look what a surprise, they have a model railway'.

 

It's a lovely sunny day here (at present) and being a thoughtful person have already unloaded the dishwasher and the washing machine that did their duties overnight.  The washing is already hanging on the line to dry, so I might receive a silver star in my achievement book.

 

A day of gentle gardening duties is probably on the cards, although some of these can be deflected into garden railway orientated activities, Having mowed the lawns and trimmed the front (side) hedge earlier in the week, I might be in for an easy ride.

[jamie92208]

Good morning from a sunny village that despite being away for 2 weeks is still north of Ikea.  It's also a tad cooler than Charente.   We had a good 2 weeks and got quite a bit of work done.  As well as installing a new double oven, that gained me enough brownie points for a half day trainspotting, we did an awful lot of garden work.   One large tree was pollarded and the remains of a pine tree were tidied up.  This is a pile of poles that will be converted into firewood sized logs in December.

We also crown lifted some overgrown trees and these now let more light into the kitchen.

The rest of the row will be done in December.

We now have the start of a wood pile.

I also managed to paint another 55 square metres of layout space in the shed.   It's coming on nicely.   I even took the Rover for a drive round outside the shed.  It goes well and I'll try to get it on the road later this year.

We then had a good journey home, and even survived sharing a 4 berth cabin with the friends who had been with us.  The only problem was that when we got home we found that one of the cats had been shut in the back bedroom for several days.  She was understandably distressed and the bedding/matress etc will need throwing out.  Fortunately she's now eaten and drunk a lot as well as spending a lot of time sleeping in front of the fire and loving us and appears OK.  There has obviously been a glitch with the cat sitters somewhere along the line but at least she's OK.

 

Anyway church this morning along with some urgent ironing as the boss is going away for a week playing whist in St Annes tomorrow (The 2nd prize was a fortnight of it.)   Much tidying to be done and may even get some time in the  modelling room later as the boss is watching all the episodes of X Factor that she missed while we were away.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

Edited October 2, 2016 by jamie92208

[Happy Hippo]

I have only one negative to report:

The curse of the giant backpack, has evidently been joined by a new menace: the addition of the full-size umbrella strapped {vertically} to the rear of the giant backpack!........Especially hazardous, when one is 5' 14" tall! {or rather 5' 16.5" in yesterday`s choice of footwear}.......My face having been seriously whacked by several, suddenly-reversing umbrella handles.

Next time you are astern of such a combination, grab hold of the top of the umbrella handle and pull back sharply.

 

The chances are you will turn the lumbering oaf into a tortoise on his back.

 

Then just smile demurely, and mouth 'Sorry'. This is made even better as you step over the miscreant then,  accidentally stumble and plant (with considerable force) one side of your superior footwear into the area twixt his paunch and knees.

 

Mouth apologies profusely, but remember that including a smile and  'Oh silly me!', will leave the floored fool with no alternative but to smile back and accept your apology with good grace.

 

On the other hand, you could have done what I would probably done, which was to remove the umbrella from the rucksack, shove it somewhere unmentionable, then open it! (Not the sort of behaviour one expects from a lady)

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.

 

I wonder if there isn't a need for folk to leave such encumberences at a safe place near the door, rather than endangering our dear Debs and other visitors to a show.  ie Ban backpacks!

 

A chilly bright start here, before we shatter the peace with some chainsaw action later in the morning (we do have some scruples) as we have had more firewood delivered.  Stripwood from the edges of logs from the sawmill, so nice and straight hence easy to chop up in the saw horse.  That's not a horse like Ian's.....

 

The walk around the massive walls at Laxey was very informative, best guess as to there being made was that they were to employ miners that were laid off, as local farmer was a philanthropist famed for such support, and of course in the early Victorian era one wouldn't be given money for nothing, so some form of gainful (?) employ would have been arranged.  In places these walls are 8 feet thick and almost as high, on a steep valley side.  Ideal for keeping wooly mammoths or efelumps in.....allegedly.  The local historian taking the walk was informative, and also receptive to information from others on the walk, one being a local dry-stone waller who pointed out differing styles of laying the stones in the walls, changing halfway up in one case.  Irish v local styles, 90 degrees different!  As a bonus, the rain stopped, but walking on the long wet grass on a steep valley side was difficult, and my hip is going bananas as a result.

[New Haven Neil]

Oh, re brollies in backpacks - I blame that guy that did 'Coast', he started it!  Now every walker in the countryside has one.....

[Kelly]

Morning all,

 

Hope all are well? if not speedy recoveries etc.

 

Nice and sunny here, though I don't plan to leave the house today. Though I am eargerly awaiting the cooked breakfast Richard has promised (he doesn't trust me to cook on his gas hob as I get far too forgetful!) when he awakens later (last night was last night shift).

 

I managed to get a decent night sleep for a change last night, and whilst aching and in pain, not quite as bad as yesterday. Not much planned for the day really.

 

Passepartout and I, managed to make it along to Wigan.......We found it interesting with a good range of exhibitors and layouts; although, aside from the lengthy queue in the refreshment hall, I thought it seemed rather 'quiet' (that choice of word, also representing something of an in-joke, for those in the know about my current situation!).

 

The exhibit that most engaged me, was something of a surprise: No. 76 - "Nitinat Lumber", modeled in 1:48 (0n30) and set in Canada.

I really liked the well executed scenic interest, attention to detail and the Shay locomotives.

 

I have only one negative to report:

The curse of the giant backpack, has evidently been joined by a new menace: the addition of the full-size umbrella strapped {vertically} to the rear of the giant backpack!........Especially hazardous, when one is 5' 14" tall! {or rather 5' 16.5" in yesterday`s choice of footwear}.......My face having been seriously whacked by several, suddenly-reversing umbrella handles.

 

people with backpacks are the worst element of the bigger/commercial shows I find. Whilst I'm 6ft1" tall when standing, I find my head is inconviently at bag hitting height when sat on the scooter. There might have been a few occasions where people who nearly or did manage to hit me with a backpack got run over ankles...

 

Morning.

 

I wonder if there isn't a need for folk to leave such encumberences at a safe place near the door, rather than endangering our dear Debs and other visitors to a show.  ie Ban backpacks!

 

 

Lack of consideration these days it seems. Theres a reason there are usually cloak room facilities provided, but some people seem to insist on taking a kitchen sink with them to shows (or so it feels like when it hits your head!). People with backpacks really have no excuse, as the charges for cloakrooms (taking Ally Pally and Warley as examples here) aren't usually excessively priced (about £1-£2 range). Show organisers really should be stopping them taking such big bags in anyway and insisting on leaving them at the cloakroom.

[Kelly]

Oh, re brollies in backpacks - I blame that guy that did 'Coast', he started it!  Now every walker in the countryside has one.....

 

They hurt when someone puts them down as if a stick and stab your foot! person who did that at a show a couple of years ago found my stick was considerbly harder...

[roundhouse]

Kidderminster station with Taw Valley at the head of our train

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

sounds like we need to extend our NT property visiting north eastwards - details please.

 

I find a relatively simple answer to backpacks, it's called my shoulder - hence if a backpack starts getting obstructive or becoming a nuisance I adjust the relative angle between me and said backpack and lean against it (not the wearer) with my shoulder using whatever amount of force I consider necessary.  With the correct amount of force and impetus at the time of collision between shoulder and back pack the desired result will be achieved and the backpack will move smartly sideways causing its wearer to spin round - at this point one needs to stand aside to avoid a collision and of course to admire the effect of one's handiwork as the pillock tries to regain his balance and/or stop spinning.  I carry my umbrella in a  briefcase and the handle sticks out horizontally so I exercise considerable care and normally carry it 'handle trailing' but it can occasionally be useful to have it 'handle leading' - with an innocent expression on one's face.  All part of the process of contemporary exhibition attendance I'm afraid.

 

Have a good day one & all