Early Risers.

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

We have another mild morning, but there is no fog today which hopefully means that we may see some sun.

 

The outside Christmas lights tripped the RCD overnight, so I have some investigation to do this afternoon.  I suspect that some water has got in somewhere.

 

In other news, I have bought a Sprog DCC Command Station.  It is time that I get on with Pot House Sidings and my homebrew DCC controller has not been making much progress.  I was pretty impressed with Sprog DCC - I ordered at the weekend, and on Tuesday it's there.  Not bad for the Royal Snail.

 

Time to get on!  Have a good day everyone...

[Barry O]

Morning to most, evening to some.

 

More parcels to make ready and post this morning then some domestic duties. Might get some muddling done later before I venture down to the model railway club.

 

Have a great day everyone.

 

Baz

[DDolfelin]

Further to my unwanted commentator problem, I successfully found buttons to press (on the plonkers for the TV and the Sat box).

Unfortunately it will take further research to find out how to turn the facility off.

Thanks for the help lads!

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

In Stevenage yesterday.  Poorly Pal enjoyed his lunch, and I did some m*d*ll*ng which was not an unqualified success but then it never is.  Today the fodder run needs doing and the process of rounding up serviceable clobber for a fortnight away initiated without further delay.  This may need to some clothes shopping, which I hate.

 

In addition to the usual warm thoughts I wish ACAS luck in banging heads together today.  They will need it.

 

Chris

[Oldddudders]

I had to almost run through it and not one person came forward. It was a West Worthing up and non stop after Clapham.

Sorry. I am being really dense about this. Once a West Worthing train reaches Clapham, it has little choice but to go to Victoria. I cannot think of any route to London Bridge. Do you mean somewhere other than Clapham? East Croydon?

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Still dark but no rain about when I took Chris to work earlier and the forecast says "it will brighten up with some good sunny spells developing, " Hooray!

Doorbell rang at 10.00 last night and there were two lady policemen making enquiries. Apparently the neighbour opposite had been burgled a few hours earlier. Don't know if much is missing as he's away on a month long cruise.  We didn't see or hear anything unfortunately.

Joe & Gemma came after school for their weekly visit. It seems they are getting rather excited about a forthcoming event. We probably won't see them now until "the  day."

I spent an enjoyable couple of hours playing with trains in the afternoon. Today there will hopefully be some more ballasting done as I still haven't finished.

My views on ongoing strikes are unprintable.

 

Further to my unwanted commentator problem, I successfully found buttons to press (on the plonkers for the TV and the Sat box).

Unfortunately it will take further research to find out how to turn the facility off.

Thanks for the help lads!

 Peter, I would have thought you only have to press the button again. On our TVs an icon then appears stating "ADoff"

 

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited December 14, 2016 by grandadbob

[TheQ]

Morning Awl,

Well it was a long broken nights sleep again and in the end I surrendered and got up at 04:00. So how much sleep I got I have no idea, I just attempted too for 7 hours...

 

This mornings drive in was enlivened by the learner on his 125 motorcycle, I've seen him before and I don't think he will live long.

First he decided to overtake while I was already moving out into the middle of the road, as I passed a parked car half on the verge. I was doing the 30 speed limit and I reckon he drove off through the village at around 50. There are several possible routes to the industrial estate and I obviously choose the faster one (he choose a route through 2 sets of road works) so he appeared behind me again at a school in Norwich (at about 06:30). He took off over the flat top road humps outside the school, as he passed me again and disappeared into the distance.

 

I'm now waiting for things to settle electronically, it seems from an all persons email sent out long after I finished yesterday, that an electrical contractor servicing our no Break generator, caused the factories power supplies to trip out. So i've had to boot up all the computers, restarting some programmes, which means I've lost 1/2 an hours work from yesterday and half an hour this morning getting it all running again.

 

Todays work finish a major calibrator calibration, Finish a temperature meter calibration, then look at the program for some shunts that need to be done before then end of the week, and I'm off Friday for a routine visit to the doc, I couldn't get a time that would allow me to do that within the 2 hours allowed by the company.

 

Later I'll go to Screwfix, which I didn't make last night though I did get the visit to BQ done.

Edited December 14, 2016 by TheQ

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Dampish out but not raining at the moment. Bin bags have been deposited.

I will be going at midday to Stansted to collect Matthew who has finished his research in Cork.

Tony

[Shedman5]

Morning, About to set off to see the brother in law at home so its M6 southbound shortly for some 65 miles, plan is to be back  about 3.30.

 

Dry here which is good news.

 

Enjoy your day folks

[Purley Oaks]

Some good news arrived in the post yesterday - a free 1st class ticket from VTEC to apologise for their delay repay claim taking 12 weeks to reach me instead of the promised 28 days. Thanks, PR at VTEC!

 

Family trip of 7 tonight to see Mamma Mia! Snowing me, snowing you...(sorry, their line) preceded by a meal, pricey but well worth it! Before that am taking my mum to the Christmas market.

 

Hope your day goes well

 

Mal

[jamie92208]

Morning all from the Haut Limousin.   A good day was had yesterday and many trains were seen at Limoges before we had a good walk around their Christmas market.   A few little tasks to be completed here than back to the Charente.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[emt_911]

Morning all. A bit of a grey start to the day but I won't be seeing a great deal of daylight.

 

A quick catch up on the washing and ironing before heading back to bed and get ready for working tonight.

 

Have a good day everyone.

 

Back later

[AndyB]

Morning all, and it was a misty start to the day here. Not unpleasant though to see the branches of trees against a misty background. 

 

Christmas lunch today so enforced jolliness will be de rigeur. 

 

[shortliner]

Evening.

 

Busy again, no surprise there, given the time of year.

 

Robert - oh how we can disagree!  I forgive you as you now live in the land that where roamed the locos those awful Warships were copied from!  I have them right up there in the ugly tree with the Co-Bo's, Fell and classes 66 - 70 inclusive!

 

My taste may be questioned fairly, as I like the Bulleid diesels, NB types and all sorts of other weirdness.  There's not much I don't like really, but.....Warships. Bleah.

 

NHN - Oh how I agree - The original loco, smitten frequently and often with a very large Ugly Stick. The loco always seems to have a curiously unfinished appearance, possibly due to there being no external bogie framing  (Flak jacket and Helmet on! Departing stage left with great rapidity!)

Edited December 14, 2016 by shortliner

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

It's dry, a bit grey but the sun is trying to break out, it failed yesterday. Another day pottering in the cellar beckons. Yesterday I removed the knobs from the sideboard (5) and sidetable (2) in the dining room and gave each one four coats of paint, today I shall be (no sniggering at the back please) polishing them, before refitting them all. Once completed I will do the same with the knobs in the front room.

 

Back later.

[Ohmisterporter]

Morning all. I always thought the best looking production diesels were the Hymeks. Designed in Beyer Peacock's own drawing office they had a more modern appearance than their competitors EE class 37. My all time favourite though was the prototype Deltic that I think was better looking than the production run class 55. Some say it looked old fashioned but if you were there at the time it was introduced you will know the impact it had among those dirty dreary steam locomotives. 

 

Stay safe all.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Bright and sunny hereabouts now that the mist has burnt off. Managed to empty the trailer yesterday and return everything to its rightful place. I will have to acquire some lidded boxes for some things as I found some of the lighter items are scattered around the trailer after going over the slightest bump, fortunately nothing was damaged except for a couple of paint pots that lost their labels. Have a good HUMP day and I hope it goes quick enough for you, be back later.

[TheQ]

Santa and the reindeer have arrived, there is all sorts of heavy footed banging around on the factory tin /insulated roof 20ft above me and above the lowered ceiling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's either that or the men are back yet again to try to fix the water leaks on the new roof.....

[Ian Abel]

Greetings on HUMP day.

 

Another "Brief Encounter" in the dungeon yesterday as we run up to the dreaded "...time of presenting the monthly financials to 'The Board'...", deadline/meeting is Monday next week.

Rapidly making changes to reports to reflect a revised structural requirement - to the report, not a building!

Also, after a little juggling LAST MONTH to recover some $11,000 that went astray into the wrong buckets, the same $11,000 apparently now AGAIN not in the right buckets - expected changes still being finalized - oh well, I'm sure someone knows what they're doing

 

<Bit of a RANT>

On the weather front, and let's be quite clear here, I DO understand the differences "localization" provides. In California they get out the winter coats if it dips below about 66F (19C)!!

 

i) This morning on the local - read New York CITY - news, where they do actually get something in the way of a winter, there has been widespread panic, warnings of the apocalypse and general mention of doom and gloom from not only the forecasters but also the announcers, since apparently tomorrow the weather is going to become dangerously cold, it'll drop all the way to.......... -4C overnight and will be severely cold on the morning commute at maybe -3 with windchills around -7! Ohh, the humanity, where's my arctic survival gear!!!

 

ii) Contrasted with back home, where they are now predicting everyone should "...be sure dress warmer and with hats, gloves and scarves as there is a danger of frostbite..." (note: NO IMPENDING DOOM PREDICTED), as it will be -14 for a high the next few days with -20 for a high by Sunday - wind chills drop those temperatures 2-4 degrees or more!

 

As they often are happy to say here - man up and grow a pair, PLEASE!

What a bunch of girls blouses (no offence to the ladies present).

<END RANT>

 

+2C driving in, and everyone ALREADY bitching about how cold it is when I got here?? Expected high 6 then the dreaded -4 overnight.

 

Hope HUMP day treats you well.

[emt_911]

All my mundane tasks have been completed followed by an extended eyelid inspection. Now sorting out the tools required for tonights work.

 

Back in the morning

[NGT6 1315]

A'noon everyone! Weather continues to be gloomy, but it's not cold at least.

 

Took it easy for the last two days and also had the idea of attaching some bits of reflective tape as required to serve as visual alignment aids in the garage. This is to ensure I maintain enough lateral clearance to be able to enter our Prius myself, while also permitting the owner of the space next to ours entering their car with sufficient ease. After all, the Prius is substantially larger than the Alto was, so I thought this was sensible. I had found the HUD in particular to be perfectly placed for assisting in lining up the car properly, for which reason I attached the primary alignment mark to the wall so that the HUD image would be superimposed.

 

I did notice that other motorists do seem to treat larger cars with greater respect, which is a nice side effect, I admit. That being said, it is, at the same time, questionable behaviour to bully and tailgate smaller cars in particular to begin with. Do people really need to wave their willies like that, I wonder?

 

Later...

[TheQ]

.

 

I did notice that other motorists do seem to treat larger cars with greater respect, which is a nice side effect, I admit. That being said, it is, at the same time, questionable behaviour to bully and tailgate smaller cars in particular to begin with. Do people really need to wave their willies like that, I wonder?

 

Later...

They certainly don't try to bully my 32 year old long wheel base landrover, I think they think they might catch something, it was painted red and has an overlay of green mold....

[lightengine]

Sorry. I am being really dense about this. Once a West Worthing train reaches Clapham, it has little choice but to go to Victoria. I cannot think of any route to London Bridge. Do you mean somewhere other than Clapham? East Croydon?

Yes of course Ian. I completely forgot about the route from East Croydon through Norwood Junction. I was thinking of Clapham from my days of using it to access Eurostar at Waterloo.

IIRC we had one stop after EC or if not the driver stopped at a signal and asked for assistance but we were told to continue to LB as they would get an ambulance there on arrival.

Apologies for attempting to re-arrange the Southern rail network.

Edited December 14, 2016 by lightengine

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Quiet on here today, with nobody lurking, except me.

 

Still warmer than average here today, and it was so warm this morning that we had to turn the heating off.  Trip out to walk Lily at Grange Over Sands, but times were not so good as I didn't see the loco hauled working, which I think arrived before we did.

 

All posts read and rated, and as usual greetings to those ailing or celebrating.  I think I hear the armchair calling, so back at some stage tomorrow.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[roundhouse]

Tonight I am on the same train as last night. However it arrived early this time. Busy but not as busy as it could be.. yet considering it's the last train off LBG on the Southern side tonight.

 

The connection at East Croydon also looks good so far.

 

Tomorrow back to normal cancellations then strike again on Friday.

 

No modelling done recently as just too knackered and no mood to do any really. Counting down the days till we fly across the pond for good beer.