Early Risers.

[AndyID]

Yippee! Just finished installing 170 feet of half inch EMT (steel conduit) in the shed/shop. It's not as difficult to bend the stuff as I thought it would be and I was doing some quite fancy stuff towards the end. That's another skill mastered that I'll probably never use again.

 

Now "all" I have to do is wire up the 23 boxes for the outlets and overhead lighting. The majority of the power outlet boxes will have four sockets - I hate using adapters, and a double socket only costs a dollar.

 

It's a bit more expensive to use conduit, but I think it's safer and it's a lot simpler to add additional circuits and outlets in the future.

[emt_911]

Morning all. A balmy 4^oC outside and a predicted high of 7 today. Spring must be on the way.

 

A good nights sleep again and for a change I feel refreshed.

 

Time for another coffee before heading out for more work.

 

Have a good day everyone.

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

Back in the office this morning, after a reasonably quiet weekend.

 

We have fairly chilly weather at the moment, but hoping for some sun today after a rather grey couple of days.

 

Time for a coffee!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Warmer than it has been for a few mornings and not raining. I am deducing this from the state of the dog after his run round the garden. I didn't accompany him. I just made tea.

I don't know what we are doing today. My plan is to do more tidying in the garage. Aditi hasn't mentioned any alternatives yet.

Tony

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

The fodder run will be done this morning as I am off to see Poorly Pal tomorrow and need some ingredients for our lunch.  I also need a new kettle as the hitherto trusty stainless steel effort in my kitchen seems to have failed.  Discovering this first thing in the morning is a tad disruptive.  On Wednesday the Area Group meets in Bedford and I am hoping for a good turnout as it is my idea.  Apart from that there are no pressing matters this week - not that come to mind, anyway.

 

Andyram, hard luck on not making the shortlist.  History may judge that it would not have been the right job but what do I know?

 

Warm thoughts and best wishes to all, especially those with particular need for comfort.

 

Chris

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

A dry, fresh and breezy start to the day here with the promise of some sunny spells.

I didn't really enjoy the France v Scotland match but earlier I watched a really great and entertaining game between Exeter and Wasps which ended 35 all. 

Not sure what today will bring but shopping has already been mentioned.

Have a good one,

Bob.

[TheQ]

Morning awl,

I got up at about 01:30, and maybe got another hours sleep on the sofa, so not suprisingly, I'm feeling quite rough this morning.

This has not been helped by the first thing this morning was to get a rack of equipment ready to being in thelab , which required a lot of crawling around on the floor changing units over. My Knees and back complained after yesterdays exertions. Having dragged it into the lab, I'm now having a 5 minute rest while it zeros itself, before I start work 2.5 to 3 days work calibrating it.. 

 

 The trip in was clear of cockwombles, the roads dry or damp but it was chilly, with a clear sky, and still and easterly wind. Signs of dawn with a lightening sky in the east.

 

Norton is a good anti virus checker , and when you first install it it works fine. BUT the longer you have it installed the more it slows down a system, so you don't notice the slow down for a long time.

I'e tried several systems over the years but have now just use microsoft defender or it's varients. The company I work for has long since abandoned third party systems and with 100,000+ computer systems round the world, they does not seem to have a problem.

For general system  clean ups, defragging, etc, I use IOBIT Advanced SYstem Care and once in  a blue moon I run Malwarebytes.

 

Ah zeroing complete Time to go...

[AndyB]

Morning all,

Was up late watching a Roman-based film - yet again part of the Surrey woods masquerading as Germaina / Pictland....

Then as I was pottering away with some paperwork a documentary about the space shuttle came on (BBC4).

 

Around midnight I was preparing the marinade for slow-roast pulled pork. I'm thinking that 3 hours at 180oC is a tad fast, so the oven is dialed up to 130oC and it should the joint should fall apart by teatime. 

 

My attempts at retro-cladding a Metcalfe kit came to naught as scalpel-ing out the windows was a tad inaccurate.

Plan B - weathering powders to disguise the kit's origins! Nothing wrong with the kit, it's just that when you open a modelling mag and can instantly recognise every building....

 

And finally a reminder, peoples. It's National Garage Flower Day tomorrow.  

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a slightly grey village.   Off to church shortly then a friend is coming over to refit the repaired window that was damaged in the gales last month.  I need to do some tidying in the modelling room to give access to the inside of the window.   Beth has departed for Asda .   Then this evening I've a slideshow to give to the tram society so a full day lies ahead.  

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[andyram]

Morning all. Thanks for the good wishes and kind comments. I agree with what many people have said, at some point in the future it may prove not to have been the correct job for me. The additional travelling, coupled with the drop in income were two obvious down sides. I am trying to hold on to those points. As I mentioned, it has now transpired that the job I applied for in December would not have been right anyway.

Yesterday I caught up on some marking from the end of term before we hit the M1 again. Sarah decided that, as it was the half term weekend, it was perfect for a visit to her mum's for Sunday lunch. The fact I had driven up their two days previous for FiL's 70th birthday did not seem to matter. The taxi driving does not end there. Today she has decided that we "have" to visit the Designer Outlet near Mansfield. Personally I find it a depressing place because it usually involves spending hours on end standing in clothes shops whilst she trawls through various items and then puts it all back. That place is crying out for a model railway outlet in order to ease the boredom. Later Amber is off to her swimming lesson and I will have to do some more school work at some point.

Tomorrow there is more taxi-ing because Sarah is doing an Avon promotion in Burton. She has a lift there, but will need picking up at lunch time. I think I may take Amber off for a run around the model railway shops in the area. At least I am not at work!!

 

Hope you have a good Monday.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A bit brighter this morning and rather unusually so am I, now lets see how long it lasts. Not a lot else going on at the moment so bye for now, be back later.

[45156]

 

Apart from that there are no pressing matters this week - not that come to mind, anyway.

 

Wot about the car Chris?

[45156]

 

Norton is a good anti virus checker , and when you first install it it works fine. BUT the longer you have it installed the more it slows down a system, so you don't notice the slow down for a long time.

It appears to cause a lot of disc fragmentation, and my tame computer expert advised me to ditch it and use Avast or AVG instead. 

 

The Norton was very difficult to remove as there were fragements everywhere even after a defrag session, and I swore never to use Symantec products again. 

Edited February 13, 2017 by 45156

[Happy Hippo]

 

Mal - The Scotland v Wales game has the potential for being a very close one. I just hope that the referee allows a free flowing game.

 

 

I have been to a number of these matches at the Arms Park/Millenium Stadium/Principaltiy Stadium place near Central station by whatever name it is now known, and the atmosphere has always been electrifying.

 

Likewise the cameradierie and friendly banter between the fans has been brilliant and good natured.

 

I really need to get up to Murrayfield in two years time to enjoy the action as well as spending time in a lovely city.

[45156]

Morning All

 

As usual, I have just managed to catch up, and greetings are on offer to those who deserve/require them.

 

45156 towers is a builder free zone this morning, as the winds are very strong and gusty, though they seem to have abated a little in the last half hour - the forecast is for variable wind speeds all day, so I think he's right to call off today, as it's probably worse up on the scaffold.

 

Must disappear as the fodder run has just arrived at the door, and will then need packing away.

 

Back later, hopefully.

Regards to All

Stewart

[45156]

 

I really need to get up to Murrayfield in two years time to enjoy the action as well as spending time in a lovely city.

With lots of lovely pubs.

[trisonic]

So, “the next big storm” passed to our north yesterday. actually we were on the periphery and received some Freezing Rain (yuck) from late morning until about 2:30pm - but still amounting to only about 2/10’s. Plain rain or drizzle to 7:00pm.

 

Today it is out in the Gulf of Maine and causing all sorts of issues for Mass., NH., and Maine. Later Nova Scotia. Just to the north of Boston they are expecting a storm total of around 24” of snow (on top of what they got last week).

 

With a High Pressure system moving into our “neck of the woods” from the West we are in a tight pressure gradient - which means Wind and lots of it (external wind that is).

 

Throughout the daylight hours today it will 28 to 30 mph with gusts to 50mph - not bad. Wind speeds will peak at 1:00pm today.

 

Of course I have to tell you that the whole storm system (Nikki?) will be heading towards the north half of the UK.

 

0C at present heading to 5C (with a nasty wind chill) but we got off lightly.

 

Best, Pete.

Edited February 13, 2017 by trisonic

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Nice and sunny and following a 'phone conversation earlier I am told we will be popping over to Reading to pay for the recently installed panel in the back door.  This could be quite interesting as 'double-glazing man's' house is quite something (I've seen the pics as it was featured in some magazine article years back) but I wonder if he and his car will be at home - he has apparently got rid of the Aston and now has a McLaren, definitely some money in the windows business it would seem.

 

Our weather would definitely appear to be better than Fraggle Rock's;  will NHN might have to pack in playing with the Steamplex and get over to Douglas to help unbend the Ben-My-Chree as she definitely had a pretty destructive bump last night.

 

Have a good day folks.

[chrisf]

Wot about the car Chris?

 

Kind of you to ask, Stewart!  The necessary part is due to arrive from Germany mid-week.  I am waiting on a reply from the insurance company about arrangements for surrendering the hire car and collecting my own.  Until then I am trying not to think about it. 

 

Chris

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

Late on parade again today. It's very windy again, so yet again I have deferred the guttering work. As Sheila was leaving for her Zumba class, she asked me if I was going down to the workshop? I hadn't planned on it, but as it was her idea, I thought yeah, why not? So I spent an hour or so in the workshop cutting some plywood to make base board No 4. A circular saw makes very light work of cutting sheet plywood doesn't it? It's all ready now for glueing up, but the temperature is so cold it might take some time so I'll leave it until weekend.

 

Back later.

[Purley Oaks]

Now this is the most interesting part!

Grab your guitar and connect to the relevant pedal (by cable for me - though it could be wireless too) and then hold your iPhone close too one of the guitars pick ups (usually a variable reluctance sensor or transducer).

Hit download on the phone and the data transfers to the foot pedal via the guitars pick up - no wired connection to iPhone.

 

 

Just have to say Wow!, Pete. I suppose we should not be amazed by technology but this is pure amazing. Wonder what a 24 year old Jimi would have made of it?

Mal

[lightengine]

Cracking day here in sunny Teignmouth.

At least one car got a good wash last night on the Point car park here in downtown Teignmouth. It was parked on the sea side of the car park. Last week the sea was throwing good sized stones up and last nights wave action was pretty similar.

Hopefully the dam is holding in California, otherwise the Californian Commies (sic) in the immediate vicinity are going to get wet. And its their fault!

Edited February 13, 2017 by lightengine

[The Lurker]

Greetings all. It is nice to see the sun again after what seems to have been an age. It was even quite warm when I went for a short stroll earlier.

 

No real time to catch up properly but sorry to read that Andyram did not make the short list.

 

The weekend was relatively quiet and involving dodging snow showers, swimming lessons, and digging up a failed Christmas tree. The other Lurkers have been to the dentist this morning. I am pleased to learn that no further treatment is required this time around; last time out there was further work costing 4 figures....!

 

Have a good day all

[NGT6 1315]

A'noon everyone. Sunny outside and apparently, the present frosty spell is to come to an end by the end of the week. Way-hey!

 

Taking it slow right now, but having seen Andy's posting of this morning reminded me that I would not want to forget sending supportive thoughts your way in particular. I probably can at least begin to understand the anguish of essentially being caught between a rock and a hard place like you are at present, following what happened (or didn't happen, more precisely) last week.

I know from experience how hard hanging in for a bit longer can be in that kind of situation but, do try, as I'm confident that with your dedication to doing your job well, there will be an alternative not too far away. We're all rooting for you.

Edited February 13, 2017 by NGT6 1315

[DDolfelin]

Help required!

So much knowledge on here.

I'm trying to sort out a holiday in September for an elderly couple.

They can't fly for medical reasons.

I've found an apartment for them but is there a way I can forecast the cost of Rail Fares?

Rhyl (North Wales) to Pineda del Mar (Catelonia).

They don't have much money.

I'll help them a little but they are friends rather than close family.

Two weeks in September this year. Return.

 

Any help will be much appreciated by all concerned!