Early Risers.

[Happy Hippo]

You can also sit on a Settle. My Mother had an old oak one just inside her front door. It has a wooden double seat and high back and sides out of the same wood. The seat parts lifts up and inside are all manner of hats, scarfs and other cold weather gear.

After her death the Settle now resides just outside of Edinburgh.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settle_(furniture)

 

Best, Pete.

Apparently the Shedmaster is still looking for that one!

[newbryford]

So how do you pronounce Spokane, Mick?

 

I have a “Keep Portland Weird” T-shirt  - which seems to upset the true locals....

 

Best, Pete.

 

All the lads at work (and me) "Spo-cane".

I was only there for one day.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[jamie92208]

All the lads at work (and me) "Spo-cane".

I was only there for one day.

 

Cheers,

Mick

We spent a night there on honeymoon.  Maybe I set a precedent by going to a model shop to purchase some yellow things whilst Beth was watching the washing in the launderette.

 

Jamie

[andyram]

Morning all. From reading the entries on here it appears there are other households where 14th February is just another day. Sarah spent Tuesday morning in the Coopers Square shopping centre promoting a new Avon product. Amber and I had a lie in before we visited Mech Models near Tatenhill, Burton. I had bought a few things from them at the Burton Rail Ex event last November but had never visited the shop before. I was very impressed, it proved to be well stocked and the welcome was warm and friendly including the offer of drinks for Amber and I. I ended up spending more than intended but will definitely visit again.

We all went out for lunch at the local pub. It was surprisingly quiet considering the date. Later I went to the Derby match, but the less said about that the better!

 

The half term holiday is slipping by very quickly, too quickly. Right now I am beginning to think the "man in the sky" has a rather unkind sense of humour. This week was always going to be a busy domestic week with lots of boring jobs to catch up on. The highlight of the week was going to be today's planned visit to the Derby Winter Beer Festival. My parents have been booked to babysit so Sarah and I can go and enjoy a few drinks and some much needed quality time together. Sadly it now looks unlikely to happen as both Sarah and I have broken out in stinking colds and both feel pretty rotten. This will be my fourth bug in less than two months. I do think I have had more than my fair share. Last holiday got ruined by illness, it looks like this one will be too!

[BoD]

Morning all.

 

We have had two short power cuts this morning.

The second came about thirty minutes after the first and precisely two minutes after I had reset all electric clocks.

 

The first also managed to damage a piece of equipment when the power returned, although I am sure that they will tell me that is not possible and the equipment must have been faulty in the first place.

 

Ah well, onwards and upwards.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

I was awake nice and early to put the bin bags out. It was still dark. Aditi has just informed me that I have put a green bag in with the pink bags.

More garage tidying today. My tools have been sorted nicely into categories that are meaningful to me. I have a big box now of "things to be sorted later ".

We will be going next door for afternoon tea. Our neighbours are going skiing in France and are going to show me how their new heating system works in case of problems while they are away.

I haven't been to Spokane or Staines. Didn't Staines try to change the name to something like Staines on Thames recently.

Tony

Edited February 15, 2017 by Tony_S

[Happy Hippo]

Sadly it now looks unlikely to happen as both Sarah and I have broken out in stinking colds and both feel pretty rotten. This will be my fourth bug in less than two months. I do think I have had more than my fair share. Last holiday got ruined by illness, it looks like this one will be too!

Both my wife, daughter and friends who work in schools, always seem to end up with colds during half term holidays.

 

We assume it (school) is a breeding ground for such afflictions,and the 'run down' of the immune system as one gets more tired towards the end of the term and gets more susceptible to infection.

 

We used to find this happened after  long military exercises.  Everyone seemed to go down some form of ailment.  Except the RSM who gain immunity from such trivial things whilst in post.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. One of my all time favourite authors was Tom Sharp who regretably is no longer with us. I have found a suitable replacement in Carl Hiaasen, the same off beat humour and the villains get their commuppance in a way thats embarassing, painful or both. I am also reading the books by Michael Connolly. Not much else to report, C & C's where neccessary, be back later.

[TheQ]

 

 

We used to find this happened after  long military exercises.  Everyone seemed to go down some form of ailment.  Except the RSM who gain immunity from such trivial things whilst in post.

The Falkland Islands flu is famous, every time I went down there I got it, of curse Every so often someone else going down there added something new to the mix.

 

This was a particularly bad problem for the inhabitants of St Kilda, each time the Factor (landlords agent) came for his annual visit to claim the  "rent " for the islands. He brought with him the extras gift of a cold of some sort. The Islanders had no immunity against anything, the worst being in the 1700s when smallpox arrived on the island and wiped out 2/3rds of the population, leading in the end to the evacuations in the 1930s, In the meantime the government twice in the early 1900's had to send ships, food and doctors when there were not enough well people to keep the sick ones alive...

Edited February 15, 2017 by TheQ

[Purley Oaks]

Morning all

 

Another bright day here, not so chilly as yesterday.

 

Great when the sun shines all day like it did yesterday because the evenings last longer, reminding us that spring is on the way and that it's only 6 weeks (in Europe, anyway) until the clocks change.

 

Today I am getting ahead with Gabe's tax return in readiness for year end on 5 April 2017.

 

Hope your day is as exciting - or more so!

 

Mal

[Tony_S]

The management at the primary school that my niece attends have a cunning plan to avoid the half term lurgy that afflicts teachers. They don't have half term, they have 6 terms in the year instead.

[Horsetan]

The management at the primary school that my niece attends have a cunning plan to avoid the half term lurgy that afflicts teachers. They don't have half term, they have 6 terms in the year instead.

Doesn't that attract six lots of lurgy instead of just one?

[TheQ]

Sometimes, just sometimes, I like working for the company.

They have a very strange way of accounting so that anything being stored has a cost in depreciation, So when the reach the end of a production line and are left with a few bits  /  equipment left over, it's cheaper on their accounts to give it away rather than be depreciated!! So it's left on a bench in the tea bar for the staff to have if they wish... There are of course no guarrentees that they work...

 

Today, current clamps, now I'm half expecting many to appear on Ebay tonight (there was a pile of about 20 or 30 units of various types), but for me a 3 phase current clamp will work well on my motor boat  and a hand held one is a great addition to my toolkit  plus various other bits and pieces . I just priced up the last list price of all of the items and that's a total of about 750 dollars roughly £600  

 

 Now for some studying to make an interface from the 3 phase current clamp to a display...

Edited February 15, 2017 by TheQ

[Tony_S]

Doesn't that attract six lots of lurgy instead of just one?

No idea. I shall ask my niece's opinion when I see her at the weekend.

She is four so should by now have an understanding of how schools function.

[Horsetan]

....should by now have an understanding of how schools function.

 

I've always wanted to learn how schools function....so badly.

[lightengine]

Years ago I watched the docu about the US civil war ( which incidentally they won) and some of the place names there I foundodd, especially Appomatox and The Potomac river. Back along we had friends that visited in Somerset and pronounced Wiveliscombe as wivver lis com bee and Burlescombe as burr less com bee.

 

Have just watched 13th, an insight into the US Injustice system. Well worth a watch.

[lightengine]

Sometimes, just sometimes, I like working for the company.

They have a very strange way of accounting so that anything being stored has a cost in depreciation, So when the reach the end of a production line and are left with a few bits  /  equipment left over, it's cheaper on their accounts to give it away rather than be depreciated!! So it's left on a bench in the tea bar for the staff to have if they wish... There are of course no guarrentees that they work...

 

Today, current clamps, now I'm half expecting many to appear on Ebay tonight (there was a pile of about 20 or 30 units of various types), but for me a 3 phase current clamp will work well on my motor boat  and a hand held one is a great addition to my toolkit  plus various other bits and pieces . I just priced up the last list price of all of the items and that's a total of about 750 dollars roughly £600  

 

 Now for some studying to make an interface from the 3 phase current clamp to a display...

If you have any free time perhaps you could let me know about what that 3 phase current interface thingy is (keep it brief) and what a 3 phase current clamp is and do I need to get 1 or 3 of them? I apologise for my ignorance. ;-)

[Tony_S]

I've always wanted to learn how schools function....so badly.

Like all institutions some are well managed some are not.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning a;;,

 

Finally caught up after spending yesterday evening eating out and then watching the box and even staying up to watch the Beeb's 'Valentines Day film'   - but it was 'Pretty Woman' so it had its good points.  The restaurant meal was well up to their usual standard and the roast banana in Amaretto was a worthy conclusion, amazing what you can cook in a  pizza oven.  The restaurant had closed on Monday this week instead of their usual Tuesday closing and it looked to be worth their while with seven other couples arriving whilst we were there and no doubt more after we'd left.

 

Like Tony I've never been to Sydenham but I have been through two of them - one in sarf Lunnon and the other in the Sydney NSW suburbs.  Lots of British place names over there and as it happens their Penrith is a good place for train watching if you like EMUs,  I even got there on a rail replacement 'bus on one occasion.

 

Not yet sure If I shall be conveying the Good Doctor to/from her charity work this afternoon as she's just gone out for a driving lesson and nothing has been said.  In the meanwhile I shall no doubt have a wander round the forum no doubt coming across some of the usual entertainment, and the occasional stupidity it nowadays seems to attract.

 

Have a good day one and all.

[Donw]

Take a seat on a settee in Settle before you settle in Seattle.

 

I presume that settle/Settle are pronounced the same way.  I don't know why it would be pronounced differently but I thought I'd ask.

 

When I was young I read about Chief Seattle in a library book, and not knowing any better pronounced it "sea-tel" (like beetle). I don't believe it every caused me any public embarrassment but I remember feeling foolish when I learned the proper pronunciation.

 

Anglicized names of indigenous origin are tricky. The other day I saw a BBC World News presenter butcher the name of a NSW town covering a bushfire story.

 

Should that have read take a seat on a settle in Settle  or is the smell chequer again?

Don

[TheQ]

Roughly and very roughly that is,

 

 You have DC current which is a steady level of current, that is used in the DC supply of a model railway.

 

 You then have AC current which varies above and below the zero level in a sine wave, which is what comes in a mains socket.

 

For more powerful use, we use 3 phase AC Current.  (picture below) that is three sets of AC power set 120 degrees one after the other. So you can draw power from all 3 phases at the same time.

 

If you look at the old overhead mains power cableing feeding houses you'lll see there are 3 cables strung along the bar one for each phase, plus a 4th wire for neutral.  One phase is drawn off to feed a house along with the neutral to form a circuit.. But a factory or high power user will take all three phases and the neutral.

 

Note, if you were ever daft enough to connect one houses mains to the next houses mains, there is likely to be a very large bang and cloud of smoke as they spread the load on the mains by using different phases for different houses.....

 

So to measure a current without interupting the supply, one of the ways is to do it is to use a current clamp ( see picture of a cheap single phase meter / clamp  below (just over £10)). This has jaws which open up and you place the entire jaw over the cable so the cable runs through the hole. you can then select the range you need and read off the current that is flowing through the circuit. ( most current clamps will only measure AC current not DC)

 

Do you as a model railway or house maintenance person need one?

NO,  because 99 times out of 100 a simple AC /DC Meter on its appropriate setting will read the voltage and let you know the power is flowing.

 NO, because unless you are trained to use one, you should NOT be going anywhere near anything that requires the use of one.

 

Also on the lower powered equipment such as a model railway because you can turn off the power, plug in a meter, and read the current through the meter you can read current that way.

 

 Thats about as simple as I can get, at least you didn't have to go through the maths calculating the phases in training, never to be used again!!

 

 

 

[Oldddudders]

I am aware of two Sydenhams, one being a tiny hamlet here in Devon.

 

The other, between Penge West & Forest Hill, is notable for giving its name to the two spurs that lead round to and from Crystal Palace (Low Level). I think Overground trains now ply that territory, but the spurs were always busy with ECS between Streatham Hill depot and New Cross Gate, which was a major berthing point then, maybe less so now. Deb had a flat near Penge West, in Laurie Park Road, which when pronounced sounds like a very mundane piece of tarmac, but is in fact leafy and full of des residences, and the further end comes out somewhere close to Sydenham.

[Donw]

Evening all. It's been a long day...

I haven't really caught up on everything, but I must just say that my French electrician believes the UK ring main to be the work of the devil. One English family here (there) in France had their house rewired with ring mains and 13 amp sockets. The insurance company saw it and cancelled their policy, and no-one would work on it. We have sockets in the bathroom, but we also have a system so sensitive that I'm very unlikely to be hurt, even if I take the heater into the shower.

 

Great day today, we went up to see Matt & Tash (youngest son and missus) with Henry and Laurence, and we took Daisy. Much cousinly high jinks, and general mayhem. Matt (ex-pro fotog) was so impressed with Daisy's 'eye' that he gave her a DSLR Nikon which he didn't need any more. She was chuffed, and has spent the evening practicing, tomorrow we are going out on a photo jaunt. It's wonderful to see another photographer in the family. Her dad hasn't had such a great day, breaking ties with the organisation he has been working with (essentially due to bad management) and now he needs work that fits in with childcare. Will be difficult.

 

Laurence is making great progress, but we are starting to see what will be his limitations. It's so sad, as he's a handsome and lovely boy. The good side is that he's in the best possible family to support him.

 

IMG_1746.jpg

The deadly duo, quiet for a moment due to pizza!

 

So, knackered, and off to bed. I hope you've all had as good a day, and that tomorrow will bring a new basket of delights.

 

There is a widespread misconception that the Ring Main is about safety if fact it in inherently unsafe. The reason for the ring main was it was cheaper and easier to do. The problem with a ring main in the UK is the cables used are 2.5mm sq cross section which have a current rating in the 20s in typical installations  however the fuse or circuit breaker is rated 30A or 32A for an MCB. The assumption is that it being a ring the current will pass both ways round the ring keeping the current in the cables below 20A at all times. However should one of the wires fracture or become loose at any point in the ring the ring effectively becomes two radial circuits sharing one fuse. The break will not trigger a fault condition and will function ok but if the break is near one end the longer leg may be regularly carry a greater current than it should. If part of the cable passes through insulation it may cause a hot spot. 

Before you all rush out in a panic it is a low risk mostly the currents are well below the fuse rating. If however you have heavy loads such as heaters on a ring main it could be an issue if there is a fault. One thing you can do is should you replace any sockets or add new to a ring main is to check the continuity of the ring. 

 

In contrast a Radial circuit adheres to the safety rule that any cable has a higher current rating than the fuse which protects it.

 

Don

[The Lurker]

Greetings all.

 

My Mum has a cousin who lives in Sydenham (the South London one).

 

Australia not only has a Sydenham but also a Foots Cray (or at least a Footscray) and a Sidcup Castle. I did also read once that Viscount Sydney after whom Sydney is named hailed from Sidcup.  

 

Good to see AndrewC back. I was feeling that my vocab needed a little refreshing.

 

Nice picture from Smiffy - good to her that Laurence is making progress. Sometimes you wonder if a child with "difficulties" is ever going to make much progress because the difficult times can last what seems like forever. And then suddenly there is a step change...

 

I too share some of Flavio's taste in authors; Larry Niven, in particular. More modern authors I have enjoyed include China Mieville and Jeff Vandermeer.

 

The alarm people recommend permanently decoupling the alarm while the work is done, after which we can have a new or updated alarm system. The boiler / central heating quote has been received and will probably be accepted, and I now need to get someone from a few double glazing firms round. The current windows are old and the air comes round the size of them and through the gaps. New is the likely solution.

 

It's the pain of going through the quote process that I look forward to the least!

 

Have a good day

[TheQ]

I decided not to include figures to try and keep it simple,  they used to say  60V  for safety when I was training, to work on up to 100,000 Volts with effectively unlimited current.

 

My house has a TT earth system ( as described  by Dutch_Master) , or at least it did. When I had a failure of  the bathroom heater, the ELCB to the garage started smoking!!! After much checking around I found out that when they removed my Hot water tank,  fitting the combi-boiler, they had broken the earth from the outside rod.!! I had for several years been running with out an earth!!! 

Needless to say the next day I had hammered in a new earth rod, fitted the cover, and fed a new earth to the distribution box...

 

Notes

ELCB = Earth leakage circuit breaker, which was an early attempt to provide the safety that an RCD now provides, the one to the garage was so old I think the case was Bakelite,,, New RCBOs now fitted..

RCD= residual current device , designed to cut the current before it kills you.

RCBO=Residual Current Breaker with Overcurrent designed to replace the RCD and the fuse / mains breaker switch in one unit.