Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

Matthew knows how to keep the aged parents happy.

He sent me a photo of a loco.

He sent a video of a whistling oyster to Aditi.

Tony

[The Stationmaster]

Mike, that was the reason Bardic lamps were invented.

 

Brake sticks were even more intimidating - at Westbury for some odd reason (??) there were often one or two to be found n the platform Chargeman's office

[gordon s]

I really shouldn't laugh, but I'll admit to a few chuckles........of despair.

 

[BSW01]

Good afternoon everyone

 

The girls were taken home just over an hour ago and we've just had a hot drink, a cup of tea for me, whilst Sheila has a cappuccino. The fog is still around, it tried to clear at lunch time but failed, it's now far worse than it was this morning. If it's like this tomorrow I suspect we'll be stay inside, although I may have a trip down to the workshop!

[TheQ]

SWMBO Arrived home yesterday to find some new shoes waiting for me, along with the white van driver and van. Interestingly the van was 150 yards down our garden at our mobile home which his navigator directed him to, very odd considering its not a public road. Luckily the route he had taken was that I use for the landrover taking building materials to the shed so no damage done.

 

Very late on parade today, although I awoke at 05:30, I didn't get out into the garden until 08:30. I then spent the next 4 hours humping, dumping, levelling foundation blocks for the shed extension. If I took my old padded fluorescent jacket off I froze, but with it on I sweated, an uncomfortable day. The floor frame work was already there, so I could align the blocks.

We then assembled the 8 corner panels and the eaves ring beam. we found one piece of floor framework was missing four holes which didn't take long to drill but it was annoying. By the time we finished the sun was setting and the temperature was dropping.

 

Tomorrow I hope to get a couple of hours work in before the first of 4 xxxmas dinners of the year. SWMBOs weaving group dinner, which I think I'll amuse by turning up in a kilt. Unfortunately I had to turn down two more dinners due to time constraints. This not counting our own dinner on the 25th.

 

Right time for my evening meal which will be accompanied by a large whisky.

[Horsetan]

You might be interested to know that his show name during his younger competition days was "Pure Genius" because he is the colour of a pint of Guinness....

....and here is Himself filling his face last night:

 

 

 

 

 

 

He's 21 years old, so his competition days have long since been swapped for drinks trolley duties. Not an easy horse to photograph at night but, like Guinness, although he looks black, if you look really closely he is in fact a very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very dark bay.

[AndyID]

Looks like NR has stranded a bunch of people in Bristol due to a "power cut". If they'd only kept the old signalling system that relied on batteries, there wouldn't be a problem. That's progress I suppose.

 

A bit like the time Newark Airport was shut down for a couple of days when a JCB sliced the power cable.

 

"But surely they had redundant power cables" you say.

 

Indeed they did, but the numpties had both cables buried side-by-side in the same trench!

[AndyID]

I really shouldn't laugh, but I'll admit to a few chuckles........of despair.

 

 

Alas, we are not too hot on geography in theses parts. When people learn we are from Scotland some complement us on our excellent command of English. The other one is "how do you celebrate the 4th of July in the UK".

 

You'd think the free availability of information on the Internet might help, but it seems to be having the opposite effect. No wonder so many people here are susceptible to all sorts of deranged conspiracy theories.

 

Mind you, an English taxi driver in Oxford once asked me if I had a smooth crossing coming over on the ferry from Scotland.

[AndyID]

 

 The rolled car yesterday left some impressive marks in the road, as it bounced from side to side on it's roof.  I bet the bobby has something to say about it too!

 

Maybe you could change the name to "Isle of Maniacs"?

 

And what else would you expect when you turn your entire country into a race track? Everybody seems to think they are bl33din' Paddy Hopkirk. They probably have a similar problem in Monaco. 

Edited November 26, 2016 by AndyID

[Purley Oaks]

Evening all

 

Much milder day today - yesterday was really bitterly cold - managed to pop into the Xmas market at lunchtime where it was heaving with tourists. Blaring songs included It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like C*******s, and It'll be Lonely this... Meanwhile the Sally Army band on Princes Street were carol-tastic. Really nice sunny day.

 

Phil, hope you're feeling better after your fall.

 

Rick, hope you're not too stressed or hurt by those two lads aiming for your bag.

 

Mike - yep, watched Fantastic Beasts... in 3D specs. Really good fun.

 

Have a good weekend, and a good Warley, if you're there.

 

Mal

[lightengine]

Teignmouth Christmas lights have been switched on by Shilts.  Young boys were asking who Peter Shilton is.  The one good thing is that the Christmas lights are equal to, if not better, than Torquays lights which we saw last night.

Last night in Torquay also was the apparent annual gathering of the "Elderly Tartan Clad Women".  The amount of various coloured tartan in Wetherspoons prior to the concert was like watching a William Wallace film.  These are women that for the past 40 years have worn out their vinyl collection of the greatest hits (surely an oxy moron if ever there was one) of the (I can't bring myself to type it) B*y Sh*tty R**lers.  In the mid 70's it was my greatest pleasure to hear Radio One's Johhnie Walker describe them on air as producing crap music.  Sadly he got suspended for it.

[RhBBob]

Evening all !

 

Just back from a two-night break at Warner's Corton Coastal Holiday Resort in Suffolk; the younger version of Mrs RhBBob bought it for last Christmas ! Superb break with great musical entertainment and splendid food and accommodation. 

 

Even better, the public conveniences in both Southwold and Lowestoft, Suffolk and Kings Lynn, Norfolk are plentiful and 'free'.  Downsize ain't possible judging by the estate agents' windows in Southwold....ouch.

[lightengine]

Alas, we are not too hot on geography in theses parts. When people learn we are from Scotland some complement us on our excellent command of English. The other one is "how do you celebrate the 4th of July in the UK".

 

You'd think the free availability of information on the Internet might help, but it seems to be having the opposite effect. No wonder so many people here are susceptible to all sorts of deranged conspiracy theories.

 

Mind you, an English taxi driver in Oxford once asked me if I had a smooth crossing coming over on the ferry from Scotland.

Of course, there was the time that an actress/singer type wanted to watch Chelsea and ended up at the battle site!

[pH]

We now have a date for the opening of the latest rapid transit line in Greater Vancouver. The Evergreen line, 11 km long, from Burnaby through Coquitlam, Port Moody and back into Coquitlam will open on December 2. Construction was originally meant to start in 2002, but other projects were given higher priority. Work eventually started in 2012, with the opening scheduled for Spring 2016. Tunnelling problems caused this date to slip. Due to this saga, the line has sometimes been referred to locally as the Neverseen line. For the last several several weeks, test trains have been running. At times, it appears a full schedule was being operated.

 

The opening means we (personally) are going to suffer a significant decrease in service. We are in the middle of the biggest gap between stations on the line - possibly the biggest gap between stations on the whole network. There was an attempt to have a station built within 4 blocks of our house, to split that gap, but it didn't happen. At present, we walk 2 blocks to get a limited-stop bus, running on a 10-minute frequency, which takes us to an existing transit station. That will be taken off. It will be replaced by a less frequent, 'round the houses, stopping at every lamp post' service. It will probably be quicker for us to take this service in the direction opposite to our usual direction of travel to get to a station. But, hey, it is a new transit line, integrated with the existing system and Westcoast Express heavy rail, so I shouldn't complain too much.

[Horsetan]

Teignmouth Christmas lights have been switched on by Shilts.  Young boys were asking who Peter Shilton is.  The one good thing is that the Christmas lights are equal to, if not better, than Torquays lights which we saw last night.

Last night in Torquay also was the apparent annual gathering of the "Elderly Tartan Clad Women".  The amount of various coloured tartan in Wetherspoons prior to the concert was like watching a William Wallace film.  These are women that for the past 40 years have worn out their vinyl collection of the greatest hits (surely an oxy moron if ever there was one) of the (I can't bring myself to type it) B*y Sh*tty R**lers.  In the mid 70's it was my greatest pleasure to hear Radio One's Johhnie Walker describe them on air as producing crap music.  Sadly he got suspended for it.

 

Torquay's never really recovered from the reputation that Fawlty Towers gave it, has it?

[BSW01]

Goodnight all

[emt_911]

A day of watching the F1 qualifying, a bit of rugby and some modelling, so, not a lot done for a change.

 

More of the same tomorrow.

 

Night all

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[laurenceb]

Night all

[newbryford]

 The one good thing is that the Christmas lights are equal to, if not better, than Torquays lights which we saw last night.

 

Our lights are better than your lights.

 

Ner ner ne ner ner........

 

Cheers,

Mick

[lightengine]

Our lights are better than your lights.

 

Ner ner ne ner ner........

 

Cheers,

Mick

It's small town syndrome.

Pro rata ours have the edge.

They're not yellow either.

[Tony_S]

Our local council didn't have Christmas lights. Then one year they must have bought a few from eBay. I was slightly mildly amused as I had never seen festive owls before. The next year there were some Robins on lampposts. I am sure we may get the festive skip with a Christmas tree that has appeared in recent years. We can't really compete with places like Southend or Basildon as a tourist or shopping paradise.

[BR60103]

The Twin Cities next to ours are on track to have their new streetcar light rail line finished about a year from now. The council sent a delegation up to the factory to see the prototype of the new car, which was supposed to be in town by now. It's a 4- or 5-unit articulated and the photo showed one cab end (possibly the other as well). And production will be in another city, 500 miles closer. The plant is currently about 70 units behind on an order for Toronto and is the only streetcar/subway car plant in Canada.

Edited November 28, 2016 by BR60103

[Kelly]

Awake early annoyingly. Hopefully will grab a bit more sleep before heading to the nec again. At least only have scooter to worry about instead of scooter plus sack barrow and boxes laden on the scooter

 

Warley proved hectic as expected yesterday on the demu stand. On the other hand, I got about 1/4-1/2 way through building a 2HAP. Needs a fair bit more work though still.

 

Tomorrow back for a proper look around as didn't leave the stand today.