Early Risers.

[eldavo]

Has anyone been to Cockermouth or Chesterfield?

 

I once got two deer who decided to leap over a hedge straight into my path. Didn't do the little Astra I was driving a lot of good. Thankfully I was able disentangle enough crunched wing and bonnet to get home. Bit of a b****r if you've got to get all the way back to Swindon.

 

Have a good one all.

 

Cheers

Dave

[emt_911]

Morning all. A bright but chilly start to the day.

 

Andy - I hope that your search for better employment is resolved sooner than later.

 

Smiffy - Great to see a post from you.

 

Chrisf - Not the end to the day that was needed. I hope that the problems are resolved quickly and without too much of a financial penalty.

 

Time for another coffee before some modelling commences.

 

Have a good day everyone.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Not a lot achieved other than tea drinking and releasing the doggy into a very frosty garden.

After a proper walk with Robbie we will set off to Enfield. Lunch with MiL and also deliver the replacement part for her Henry vacuum cleaner that she dismantled. I suspect there will be discussions about what to do with MiL's brother when he arrives in April. He is only a couple of years older than Aditi and MiL seems to treat him more like a son than a brother. By the time we set off the frost should have disappeared.

We don't watch a lot of the more obscure TV channels but when we do I am intrigued by some of the adverts. I don't think I am yet ready for a chair to launch me across the room.

Have a good day.

Tony

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Glad to see Smiffy posting again. Chris, sorry to hear of your hitting the deer, fortunately the largest thing I've ever hit was a pheasant which done no damage to the car. I have also hit a rabbit and a pigeon, both of which seem to have survived the encounter. Got to go now, heading out for a swap meet, be back later.

[andyram]

Morning all. Firstly it is great to see conversations returning to more ER related matters! Chris I am glad you had an enjoyable time at the Cardiff show, but I am sorry to hear about your incident with the mystery animal. The most important thing is that you are ok. I hope you get the car sorted quickly and without too many problems.

 

A cold start to the morning with frost on the ground. A sleepless night last night because of the persistent cough. At least the headache has gone. Today Sarah wants to visit the local branch of the Cats Protection to book a stall for their craft fair in May. Then I will have to knuckle down to planning for the week ahead. The boss will return tomorrow or Tuesday from the exchange visit so I am braced for more problems.

I had a nice text message from a former colleague this morning. Some of the things she told me about her experience with said headteacher certainly ring true at the moment.

 

Have a good day all.

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.  Very dull here, cold but not frosty, just....bleah.  Not feeling quite right today, so no Groudle. 

 

Sorry to hear about Chris's misfortune, as long as you're OK then it's not so bad.  IIRC the car is brand new though - typical of my luck!  Once had an accident on a brand spanking new bike 1 day old, caused by a gent using a rather unique way to negotiate a huge 3 lane wide roundabout - lane 3 to left turn in one fell swoop, while indicating right.  But I was in the middle lane.....ended up being pushed sideways, leaning over the bonnet of the car.  Had to take him to small claims Court to get my money for that one, successfully.

 

Off down to the garage to continue packing up my US stock for a while, until I get too cold.

[DDolfelin]

Close encounter with a roe deer last year as it cleared a roadside hedge and landed in front of the car.

That one just continued on its way and jumped the hedge on the other side into a field.

Not so lucky with the pheasant that was struck by an oncoming land rover at 60mph and thereby launched into my headlight cluster which was also travelling at 60mph.

[petethemole]

Mornin' all, still frosty in the shade.

 

I have much to do but don't know where to start. I can see where that's going. Some motivation would be good.

 

Peace and Lego.

 

Pete

[Tony_S]

A bird once collided with my shoulder while I was riding my motorbike down the A5. It seemed to explode into a flurry of feathers and I was quite surprised at the impact effect. Not sure if it survived.

Dad once thought he was being mugged from behind as he walked to work in Birmingham. He said he span round ready to defend himself and found a very large dazed pigeon at his feet. He picked it up and put it on a nearby tombstone to recover. He said people were looking at him strangely.

Edited January 22, 2017 by Tony_S

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

More of that lovely frost and sunshine - very nice although it was distinctly nippy an hour or so back (laddo's car said -12, but it is a Fiat).  Good end scene to come in The Archers repeat this morning so that is not to be missed. 

 

As for place names we are not far from the hamlet of Pishill - the incomers and fancy folk pronounce it as almost a single, slurred, syllable while the older locals (if there are any left?) pronounce if - correctly as it happens - as two distinct syllables.  It boasts a rather nice pub which appears to have gone on to more fancy things since its wilder past with regular music in the barn on Saturday nights

http://www.thecrowninnpishill.co.uk

 

Chris - sorry to hear about your encounter with wandering fauna - the worst I've ever had was a fox who I clobbered at speed on the M$ one night although fortunately the only damage was a written off front numberplate.  But on a more practical front if you need to get somewhere inaccessible from public transport and an expensive taxi ride at Pigs'Hill  Swindon provided it fits whatever other things we have going (mainly NHS appointments, various so unalterable) on I'd be happy to collect you from, say, Reading station and convey you the rest of the way (which reminds me, must get the car serviced).

 

Now to listen to the denouement of Mr Titchener.

 

Have a good day folks

[Coombe Barton]

Frosty and grey tp start with, but now we have some sun struggling through. Still frosty, though

 

All this talk of seating furniture makes me think of ...

 

[Purley Oaks]

Chris, it may well be that if the bumper can be removed easily,you may be better off driving it home and get it sorted locally,perhaps using good second hand parts.

 

Often cheaper than the cost an increased premium!

Chris

 

Sorry to learn of your incident; can be quite shocking to just hit something that comes out of the blue. Deer have a habit of bounding across roads, which is great to see from a distance but not so when you have to take severe avoiding actions.

 

I think that your insurance company will decide which parts you will have fitted to your car - they usually demand genuine parts - so although BlackRat's suggestion is great for an old banger or if you have 3rd Party only insurance, your car's almost new, I think?

 

Good news from Edinburgh is that all wimmin are safe and well. Lots of funny signs (which I won't now post), and lots of black p*ssy hats and pink p*ssy hats. For those who don't know, p*ssy hats are knitted with two corners which look like cats' ears. Not such a good look on men, I think. The only "trouble" was four young wimmin standing on a 7' wall and being told to get down by the polis for health and safety reasons which they duly did.

 

AndyRam - your immune system must be lowish at the mo, which is possibly due to job stress, hence all of these bugs. Being in a very social environment I guess that bugs and lurgies are quick to spread.

 

Today is chilly and dull and I'm still hunting for rogue receipts for Gabe's tax return.

 

Have a good day, wherever you are

 

Mal

Edited January 22, 2017 by Purley Oaks

[Donw]

Because Ian lives in the USA, Mr. Trump has just been elected as president of that country and will possibly have a direct effect on Ian and members of his family?

 

That doesn't explain all those around the world marching. I do not remember them doing so when Turkey wanted to force young Girls to marry their abusers or the Iranians imprisoning a women on secret charges. There are lots of worse things than an odd choice of president.

Don 

[Judge Dread]

No meteors tonight.

All this talk of Meteors and look at my present reading matter out from what's left of our public library system  in Hull (city of culture).

[shortliner]

A query showed that modelling size drill bits are 2 for C$4.50. What are they elsewhere? The drill collections seemed to have disappeared from the shops computer lookup.

 

David - does this solve your problem?    http://www.banggood.com/150pcs-0_4mm-3_175mm-Micro-Twist-Drills-Bit-Set-Rotary-Tool-Grinder-Accessory-p-1004509.html?rmmds=buy  You can change currency/price details - putting drill bits into the items at the top will give you an enormous selection

Best

Jack

[Tony_S]

Back from the walk. We went to a different bit of the park after parking as there were lots of small children being coached in Rugby tactics. They all seemed to be having fun. Not like rugby when I was at school!

When we set off it was just below freezing and when we came back it was just above freezing. The bottle of Evian I keep in the car was frozen so I suspect it really was -5C last night.

Off to Enfield soon.

Tony

[Neil]

Afternoon (just) all. I'm still engaged in battles with boxes and bubblewrap so a little late firing up the pc. Not really surprised to see that Trump has added lie upon lie regarding attendance at his inauguration. Whilst I'm worried about an egomaniac who concocts his own truths to bolster his own skewed view of the world I am heartened to see that those who value truth, decency, fairness and tolerance are not taking matters lying down. Though obviously the media has concentrated on where the protests were most massively attended the same sentiment has been expressed here in mid-Wales; placards were waved and banners unfurled as we headed into Aberystwyth on Friday.

 

In other news I woke up to snow this morning, a moderate amount, not enough to trouble as this afternoon we take some plants round to friends who are babysitting them until our move is complete.

[New Haven Neil]

Another box filling with US stock completed....and I just seem to find more and more stock I didn't know I had - 6 undecorated locos and a collection of cement hopper kits.  All good ones too, two each Kato drive S4s, U25s and C425s.  They'll never get used I don't suppose. 

[TheQ]

Afternoon awl,

 

I drove past Penistone the other day, sadly famous for many railway accidents, as well as its name.

In the last couple oF years I've twice hit small deer with the car, they keep damaging the plastic bits of the car. Then getting up and running off. Why can't they run in front of the landrover, no plastic bits and. I'd get some venison....

 

The evening events went well, with assistance of the voice in the box, we arrived at the A140 to find lots of flashing blue lights and diverted off onto country roads I didn't know. The box got us there well in time.

 

This morning was the heaviest frost of this winter, the landrover needed the windows scraping outside and in. Then I stopped twice enroute to scrape off the freezing mist. On arrival at the sailing club all the side dykes were frozen up, but the main river just had the odd iceberg.

There was great difficulty getting the main rescue boat started, this boat was partly flooded a couple of weeks ago and I think the electrics were now icing up.

 

Meantime I got the second boat out and Did a couple of times slowly round the island, ice breaking. I was getting very warm, so I then went back to the club house and removed a fleece from under my new waterproofs which are proving very insulating. I then went out again to find the outboard now running.

So we all retired to the club house for bacon butties and coffee.

The day was beautiful and sunny but no wind. After a postponement racing was abandoned.

 

Going home I found a mamil ( middle aged man in Lycra) cycling towards me on his side of the road, I had to indicate right for my turning, waiting for the cyclist to pass. Then instead of slowing and waving me through, the team sky clad cyclewomble turned left.

So I was forced to follow, after a few hundred yards following the cyclewomble with diesel engine rattling behind him, down a single track lane, he moved to the left and waved me though, so I went forward with my right hand wheels on the Verge...

[petethemole]

The thought of a sky clad cockwomble alarms me (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/sky-clad). Fortunately https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=skyclad+cockwomble&hl=en&biw=1536&bih=729&site=webhp&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjq_4qf-dXRAhUKB8AKHWTbC38Q_AUICCgB

 

I started doing something that wasn't on my mental list. However it still contributes to lowering the level of chaos. Is it normal for one end of a kitchen worktop to become a resting place for a heap of redundant utensils and containers (and spiders)?

 

Love and peas.

 

Pete

[Tony_S]

The thought of a sky clad cockwomble alarms me (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/sky-clad). Fortunately https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=skyclad+cockwomble&hl=en&biw=1536&bih=729&site=webhp&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjq_4qf-dXRAhUKB8AKHWTbC38Q_AUICCgB

 

 

 

I started doing something that wasn't on my mental list. However it still contributes to lowering the level of chaos. Is it normal for one end of a kitchen worktop to become a resting place for a heap of redundant utensils and containers (and spiders)?

 

Love and peas.

 

Pete

I suspect the civilising influence of my wife stops the recycling pile building up inside.

As for "sky clad". The dictionary mentions that it originally referred to a Jain sect. They also wore a fine mesh over their mouth and nose to avoid inhaling life forms. Aditi's cousin is married to a Jain and she doesn't wander around naked or wear a mask. She is vegetarian though.

[BoD]

I don't think I am yet ready for a chair to launch me across the room.

I'm sure that Mrs BoD would like one for me.

Especially if she could have the fire button.

[petethemole]

Tony, Mrs mole is largely responsible for the contents of said heap; I think they are things that 'might come in useful' but there's no room in her flat, or she's reluctant to throw away. If I do it I'm 'hoarding'.

Edited January 22, 2017 by petethemole

[Smiffy2]

I'm just watching 'Waverley Steps', a short film (1948) being shown on Talking Pictures channel - Sky 343.

 

The opening shots are of an A4 doing what A4s do best, at some length. It's No 27, 'Merlin', with British Railways on the tender but still carrying the LNER silver numbers.

 

The scenery of 1948 Edinburgh is very nostalgic, including shots of, and inside, a tram.

 

Talking Pictures is worth keeping an eye on for black and white gems, including Terminus and Night Mail. These things tend to come around every few moths.

 

Edit: I've done a bit of research and the film is available for free from the British Film Institute at 

http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-waverley-steps-1948/

 

Along with many others!  Happy reminiscing.

Edited January 22, 2017 by Smiffy2

[Smiffy2]

And another one:

 

http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-along-the-line-1947/

 

"Jobs galore on the railways! The engine driver may be every school boy's hero, but as this railways recruitment film makes clear, the job of station master, signalman, parcel porter or shunter is just as important. Made at a time when the rail industry was modernizing – with electrification and mechanization replacing steam power and manual labour – the film seeks to reassure potential recruits with the promise of a secure 'job for life'."