Early Risers.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

And a nice hard white frost out there, looks really nice (because I am inside looking out at it) and currently it's sunny but that is forecast not to last.  Great to have Gordon back among our number and fingers crossed that the latest version of Eastwood Town will go the distance.

 

Interesting news about M&S although they are of course also into internet selling for clothing so that is no doubt influencing their policy.  Some of their foodstuffs are very good especially the crispbakes but they keep messing about with the contents which is not so good.  As far as clothes are concerned I thought everybody over 50 shopped at Cotton Traders - or is that just the impression Mrs Stationmaster gives me?

 

Fresh tea on the go judging by the noise from the kitchen - enjoy your day one & all.

[Jol Wilkinson]

Morning all !

 

Frosty start and possibility of snow on the (very) lowlands.

 

Marks and Spencer to close 60 clothing stores and concentrate on - wait for it - food sales ?  The most expensive High Street foodstore and they are concentrating on it ?   Mad or what ?  Recent opening of Iceland Warehouse in Boston has brought welcome competition to east side of town and Asda and Tesco continue to compete with Aldi on the west side.

 

Have a great day, everyone!

 

 

M+S are losing out to companies like Primark as people buy cheap clothing rather than some quality, but not top quality , they are the squeezed middle. They have however found a market for " yuppie" sales of food in the big cities. Their only competition being Waitrose, they are not competing against Tesco, Sainsburys, Lidl or Aldi.

When M&S opened a local food store nearby, (four miles from Ipswich and 150yards from a big Tesco) it was very busy from day one. They are soon enlarging so perhaps that shows it isn't just a big city thing. 

 

Ironically Next had already moved into a defunct Focus DIY store across the road. The car park there is completely full all day, so home and clothing products also seems to be doing well - although Next have more of a bright young county set image and the store also includes a Costa Coffee trendy cafe.

 

Back to other stuff, I had a day off model making yesterday after a long weekend in a local hall with a test set up and running session for London Road ahead of the Warley NEC show. I don't have room to set up the 34' layout at home so rent a hall occasionally ahead of shows to check everything and give the operators some practice. Came away with a short list of minor jobs, but overall everything went well.

 

So back into the workshop soon - when the heating has taken effect - to get on with things. Still some minor "admin" stuff to do/check - that's the one thing that I have got to dislike about exhibiting, as the team are spread country wide (Suffolk, Essex, Cambs, Herts, Staffs, London, Beds and Warwickshire - don't ask) and it's akin to herding cats at times. We have more volunteers than needed to finding who is available, etc. can be a bit of a chore. Fortunately we all get on well when we are together. Some of the paperwork for shows is extensive, especially for a bigger layout with a fair bit of stock. This is the fourth outing this year but so far only one potential invite for 2017 so next year I can have a bit of a break, do some loco/carriage building and enjoy the MGB (weather permitting).

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Bit cloudy this morning but now the sun is making valiant efforts to break through. I must admit that I only shop for food in M&S, their tea and individual vegetable portions are favourites of mine, so is the bakery but I have to avoid that as my waistband expands every time I venture that way. I volunteered to be a moderator on a local history group, not local to where I am now but for where I was born and raised, Romford/Hornchurch area. Its keeping me a bit busy at the moment with so many wanting to join but unlike my own group it doesn't have 'model' in the title so does not attract a certain type of scammer. Thats it for now, be back later.

[Tony_S]

The M&S food store on the A127 in Basildon is always busy, or at least it is when I go there! It is handy when going to other places nearby and a bit of food shopping is also required. However if I were going out food shopping I wouldn't go there as other purveyors of food are nearer. When she was working Aditi often stopped for petrol at a BP garage with an M&S food store attached. By the time she arrived in the evening there were lots of special end of day offers.

Tony

[Robert]

Jack. Those kind of road conditions are how I learned to drive. Simplest rules, slow down, no sudden or panicked movements. Gentle acceleration. Gentle deceleration. Foot on accelerator when turning (front wheel drive) to pull the vehicle around. Braking on a corner just causes skidding. (etc etc etc)

 

 

Which is exactly the reason why so many people can't do it!

 

Foot to the floor, brake at the last minute and too much reliance on technology.

[Jol Wilkinson]

Which is exactly the reason why so many people can't do it!

 

Foot to the floor, brake at the last minute and too much reliance on technology.

Which is one of the reasons I am careful when/where I drive my 73 MGB.  

 

It's not unusual to be overtaken on a dual carriageway approaching a roundabout, then for them to pull in front and hit the brakes. Fortunately I always drive the B defensively but would like to fit a Porridge Gum (shades of Wallace and Gromit) to plaster the inconsiderate/stupid bar stewards.

 

Sadly, driving a car is now a "secondary" skill, i.e. one not requiring much attention - unlike texting/using  a mobile phone.

[Tony_S]

Which is exactly the reason why so many people can't do it!

 

Foot to the floor, brake at the last minute and too much reliance on technology.

Being a pedestrian as the last minute heavy braker slides towards you is quite scary. Robbie and I nearly got taken out by a Porsche a few years ago. The driver accelerated to the end of their drive, braked and just slid straight over the road to the pavement opposite where we were. The driver looked quite shocked.

The terrain control on my Land Rover does help to prevent doing anything too stupid on adverse road conditions but I prefer to drive carefully rather than rely on it. One of the problems locally is that with mild wet winters people don't get much experience of driving in adverse conditions and don't allow for reduced adhesion or visibility until too late.

[TheQ]

Not all MGB /C drivers are as careful as you, a couple of  years ago  I had cause to brake to slow for a cyclist just before a blind Hill summit ( OK slope summit we are in Norfolk). I saw in my rear view mirror, a MGC hammered down the hill behind obviously not looking ahead to the next rise, rounded the bend to see the back of my landrover going slowly. He hit the brakes, and spun 90 degrees stuffing  the rear of his MGC into the grass bank on the other side of the road. This was on a dry sunny day!!!

 

As for Snow driving, I've only slid off the road once, following a Snow Blower from Dunblane to Oban, therefore  very slow, on an opposite camber bend, I slid slowly off sideways into the 6 foot snowdrift. I had a shovel in the back and dug myself out before the next car came through and was the first car through in 3 days.

 

 These days I take the Landrover out in the snowy weather, 4 wheel drive with a LSD on the back axle, narrow tyres, does make things easier. But you do have to respect 1,495KG wanting to go straight on on sharp corners. It's amusing seeing Softroaders with wide wheels, struggling as they slide around on the surface, expecting to drive like they do on a clear road.

Edited November 8, 2016 by TheQ

[PhilJ W]

This is interesting >> http://www.brienne.org/unlockedbriennearchive

[tetsudofan]

Morning from a sunny and reasonably mild (at least in the sun!) south east corner of the country. M&S in Folkestone closed a few years ago and was replaced by a Wilko. Closest M&S stores are at Ashford and Dover but think there is a food outlet at a BP station on the outskirts of Folkestone but don't go there as diesel is dearer than other places in town. Normally top-up with diesel at a Shell station at Faversham when I make my monthly pilgrimage to The Hobby Shop.

 

Still going through some of my old bits and pieces and came across this Freedom of Scotland ticket:

 

 

 

£9.00 for a week of First Class travel in Scotland. 1961 would mean that I had just done my "O" levels and, together with a school friend, we headed off to Scotland to "do" Scotland and as many sheds as possible for which we had a pile of shed permits.

 

An early lunch calls and then off to catch the bus to Dover to find the Dover Health Centre and then get a jab in the middle finger of my right hand. Had one three or four years ago and need a top-up now.

 

Keith

[Tony_S]

...

 

 ... amusing seeing Softroaders with wide wheels, struggling as they slide around on the surface, expecting to drive like they do on a clear road.

There does seem to be some reluctance in the UK to fitting appropriate tyres for the season. Some lower profile tyres as fitted as standard don't have good cold weather characteristics but others are available. Aditi didn't bother last winter putting the winter tyres on her Fiesta as it was easier to use the Land Rover with its mud and snow rated tyres. The last time we had snow here and our road was icy for days it was interesting watching what could and couldn't make any progress on a road that is quite level .

Tony

[Horsetan]

There does seem to be some reluctance in the UK to fitting appropriate tyres for the season. ....

 

Either lack of money, or just can't be bothered.

 

That reminds me that my two front tyres are getting very close to the wear indicators....

[Robert]

MGCs tend to be even more of a handful than an MGB.  There's a lot of weight up front in a "C"!

 

My Mum drives an MGB, and it is certainly an eye opener by modern standards.  Like planning appointments, you have to plan your braking well in advance to make sure there's a slot available at the time you need it!

 

What Tony said about tyres is very true.  M&S tyres make a huge difference when the conditions aren't too good.

[Gwiwer]

Morning all.  Sad news reached me today that one of the chickens very recently donated to a friend has failed to survive.  Both left here healthy and as daily layers.  One never laid for new keepers and was reluctant to come out of the coop into the open.  Today she expired.  From past experience I have suggested she may have become stressed by the change of location and possibly egg-bound with it.  Funny things, chickens.  But a doubly sad loss given that we donated ours (which we had intended to part with anyway) because theirs had all recently been snaffled by a fox.

 

  Today, surely, we should also spare a thought for the voters of the USA who have a choice akin to that between measles and chicken pox.

 

Chris

That good, huh?

 

Morning all !

 

Frosty start and possibility of snow on the (very) lowlands.

 

Marks and Spencer to close 60 clothing stores and concentrate on - wait for it - food sales ?  

So long as I can still get all the essentials delivered.  I know it's scant comfort to shop staff but I've been happily ordering M&S clothes online for years as they fit.  More than can be said for many of the local brands here.  The food (and the wine selection) has been good when we've been over but isn't what you would call cheap.  Not their market-place, apparently.  But the clothes seem to outlast all others to the extent that very few of mine are now any brand other than M&S.  Despite living around 10,000 miles from most of their stores.

 

 

It's frosty and bloody cold by the look of things.
 

 

Had many reports of severe cold, frost, ice and snow from friends around the UK.  Badly frosted windscreens in Southampton seemed to take folk there by surprise as one example.  Oddly enough it's icy here tonight.  When it might be expected to have warmed up for summer (and we have had days approaching 30C already) tonight is 3C and for the first time in 16 years here I could smell that frosty grass smell.  When it's cold here it is normally dry cold.  Frost is very uncommon. Dampness with icy air is virtually unheard of here at just 17 metres above sea level.

 

Time to snuggle with the cat.

[Ian Abel]

Morning from what might become "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" <sigh>

 

Polling places on the east coast have been open an hour now, so far nothing untoward reported, except for unusually long lines. I suppose one way to "get the vote out" is to make the whole thing as distasteful as possible, result is everyone needs to throw up (vote!).

Of course, where I am right now, 99.995% of the morning TV reporting is from stations in NYC/Manhattan, and they don't have any idea that there is anything/anyone else beyond about a 20 mile radius from their door, so there could be a pitch battle in front of a polling station 100 miles away and we'd be none the wiser - NYC, an island nation unto itself.

 

Nothing to report from the dungeon toil yesterday - as it usually is when I'm here.

 

Sorry the debacle here seems to be front and center on news in other places, folks are tired enough of it HERE, but I'm sure whatever the outcome, there'll been some global impact!

By the time I get back there Friday it COULD be all over, save lawsuits that might be more inevitable, and either I'll be asked "what the FLOK where you lot thinking" or "damn you lot dodged a bullet". Apply those liberally, based on your own opinions of the "candidates", a term chosen very loosely.

 

7 and sunny for now, 17 for a high and becoming overcast later (ain't THAT the truth!!)

 

Wish us all the luck in the world, we're gonna need it - and enjoy your day, secure in the knowledge you're not HERE (except for a lucky few) 

[Tony_S]

Either lack of money, or just can't be bothered.

 

That reminds me that my two front tyres are getting very close to the wear indicators....

I think the Lexus, BMW and Mercedes I observed sliding about would be "can't be bothered". I also used to observe a Range Rover failing to make progress but I noticed it had some rather flashy alloys with ultra low profile tyres. At that time Aditi had a Clio and it had some budget Polish Kormoran winter tyres. That car had no problem along our road. However the budget tyres while vastly superior in the ice and cold really affected fuel economy . When Aditi had her set of Continental winter tyres on the Fiesta fuel economy wasn't affected at all. The Continental winter tyres were not cheap though.

The main problem with winter rated tyres in snowy conditions is that it gives you longer to see the out for control car heading towards you! We were in Enfield once and a blizzard seemed to suddenly drop a lot of snow on Gordon Hill. A woman coming the other way decided to overtake a bus that was proceeding quite sensibly considering the conditions. I had plenty of time to see a car heading towards me with full lock on its wheels. I still don't know how neither I or the bus got hit.

Edited November 8, 2016 by Tony_S

[roundhouse]

Morning from what might become "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" <sigh>

 

Polling places on the east coast have been open an hour now, so far nothing untoward reported, except for unusually long lines. I suppose one way to "get the vote out" is to make the whole thing as distasteful as possible, result is everyone needs to throw up (vote!).

Of course, where I am right now, 99.995% of the morning TV reporting is from stations in NYC/Manhattan, and they don't have any idea that there is anything/anyone else beyond about a 20 mile radius from their door, so there could be a pitch battle in front of a polling station 100 miles away and we'd be none the wiser - NYC, an island nation unto itself.

 

Nothing to report from the dungeon toil yesterday - as it usually is when I'm here.

 

Sorry the debacle here seems to be front and center on news in other places, folks are tired enough of it HERE, but I'm sure whatever the outcome, there'll been some global impact!

By the time I get back there Friday it COULD be all over, save lawsuits that might be more inevitable, and either I'll be asked "what the FLOK where you lot thinking" or "damn you lot dodged a bullet". Apply those liberally, based on your own opinions of the "candidates", a term chosen very loosely.

 

7 and sunny for now, 17 for a high and becoming overcast later (ain't THAT the truth!!)

 

Wish us all the luck in the world, we're gonna need it - and enjoy your day, secure in the knowledge you're not HERE (except for a lucky few) 

So have you got a return ticket for this weekend  

[Ian Abel]

So have you got a return ticket for this weekend

Since I fly standby (courtesy of Jemma and her job) I only ever have one-ways at any point in time - though if I fail to return, I'm sure the Mrs-police will be after me in a flash.

I HAVE been warned that I better either return OR expect her to arrive imminently, if WW3 breaks out over here while I'm gone.  

[TheQ]

My Sympathies, to your situation over there, I hope there is a very clear decision one way or the other, because a very close vote could I fear, literally cause major problems with the attitude of many.

Edited November 8, 2016 by TheQ

[Robert]

 a very close vote could I fear, literally cause major problems with the attitude of many.

 

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?  If you know what I mean

[TheQ]

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?  If you know what I mean

yes but we don't have the very badly read second amendment.....

[Tony_S]

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?  If you know what I mean

I remember the vote for what colour our replacement staffroom carpet should be back in 1988. The colour was imposed anyway due to bulk purchasing requirements!

[Horsetan]

.... hope there is a very clear decision one way or the other, because a very close vote could I fear, literally cause major problems with the attitude of many.

 

 

 

 

This may be what is meant by making America grate. Again.

Edited November 8, 2016 by Horsetan

[bluebottle]

"Interesting Times", indeed.

[The Stationmaster]

My Sympathies, to your situation over there, I hope there is a very clear decision one way or the other, because a very close vote could I fear, literally cause major problems with the attitude of many.

 

And all that despite the fact that the USA gets the best most expensive politicians that money can buy.

Edited November 8, 2016 by The Stationmaster