Early Risers.

[AndyB]

Afternoon all,

Interesting day over at Gatwick, although £24 for parking for 5 hours is quite steep. The upside is it makes the average NHS parking fee look reasonable. 

 

Anyone thinking of flying to and from the US might like to take a look at the Norwegian Air prices. I'm no expert but the prices seem to be quite competitive.

[Barry O]

Checked the spam settings.. nothing to stop any emails so email to BT sent.......................... they may get back sometime.........so perhaps I need to tweet them - this generally gets a quick response but not necessarily the correct response. Perhaps they should look at the way they communicate ??

 

I have been found guilty of "weathering"  an LNER A4... Silver Link... with one colour photo to go from  not sure what people expect but anything which chucks out greasy water and soot does get dirty.

 

Back to some crust earning.

 

Baz

[Donw]

No it isn't Don. The piping is over 30 years old, 22 mm for the flow/return and 15 mm down to the radiators. It has a standard pump and is vented into the header tank in the attic.

 

It does have two motorised valves so when they both close e.g.when the timer goes off the bypass is needed for the pump overrun

 

Until the recent problem I knew b*gger all about bypasses and the engineer who eventually found the issue had to check the manual to see if the boiler required a bypass.

 

Incidentally BG fitted a magnetic filter in the airing cupboard when they fitted the new boiler. https://www.britishgas.co.uk/home-services/boilers-and-heating/heating-upgrade.html

 

Regards,

 

Dave

 

I suspect if the two valves had been replaced with a three port mid position one, that would have resolved the issue with those valves it can be hot water, both or central heating and was my usual choice when installing a system.  Obviously the valve cannot shut off both. The Magnaclean (there are probably others) are well worth fitting. I would suggest having it done if there is other work being done which drains down the system. 

Don

[The Stationmaster]

Checked the spam settings.. nothing to stop any emails so email to BT sent.......................... they may get back sometime.........so perhaps I need to tweet them - this generally gets a quick response but not necessarily the correct response. Perhaps they should look at the way they communicate ??

 

I have been found guilty of "weathering"  an LNER A4... Silver Link... with one colour photo to go from  not sure what people expect but anything which chucks out greasy water and soot does get dirty.

 

Back to some crust earning.

 

Baz

 

I think it looks rather good Baz.  They did get dirty judging by contemporaneous photos.

[Ian Abel]

The first printer I ever had was a Canon bubble-jet which was slower than a Swiss mountain glacier. I then went to Epson and haven't looked back - very long-lasting, and rapid printers. The only thing that pulls them down is the cost of ink cartridges. I have long since given up paying high street prices and now swipe genuine cartridges from eBay at rather less cost.

Indeed - my current Epson is an Expression Premium XP-820, the photo-print quality is amazing and when I use Epson Premium Presentation paper to print my Scalescenes building covers/sheet I couldn't ask for anything better. 

I only buy the ink from eBay suppliers over here, genuine Epson, but far cheaper than anything on the "high street".

[The Stationmaster]

Mrs Stationmaster's gardening efforts pay off.  Strangely the magnolia has more flowers on it this year than it has had in the previous 5/6 years put together - global warming?

 

 

[Barry O]

very colourful Mike!  Congrats to Mrs Stationmaster and her helper.

 

Baz

[TheQ]

Morning to most from a slightly damp North West Leeds highlands.

 

Good talk on 3D design and printing at the club. It has been used a lot for bridges etc etc N the Club layout.

 

Congratulations Dom and Elise. A junior ER is always welcome. Wonder how squidlet is doing?

 

Jamie..please pass on our regards to your Chairman.

 

The Q..how did you turn their spam box off please as I am having problems with emails on BT at the moment?

Have a great day and Rick, hope the day hasn't been too arduous.

 

Baz

Now at home and can go through my email controls/

First go to your BT EMAIL Home page,

Click on Settings on the main tool bar,

Click on mail in the left hand column,

Near the bottom of the main screen, you see the settings for POP users,

Click on, "switch off spam filtering" and choose from the menu what you want to do about what it thinks is spam.

Make sure you save the results...

 done I hope...

[roundhouse]

Mike - where is the garden railway??

I must try and get our garden railway running this spring.


Car Collected from garage. The cam belt was half the cost that it was last time the belt was changed but couldn't really complain this time.

So at least we know we can load the layout tomorrow night once I get back from another hospital appointment tomorrow afternoon.

Edited March 30, 2017 by roundhouse

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Car stayed on the drive today as I decided to take a walk into town as it was a good day. Near Basildon station there is was an office block that has been converted into luxury flats. My route takes me past said building and the footpath in front of the building is crowded with parked cars to such an extent that it is difficult to get a pushchair or wheelchair past, thats if there is any part of the footpath that isn't broken and there is no alternative footpath. What makes it worse many of the cars are sporting 'parking permits' issued by the developer of the flats and furthermore part of the area taken up by parked cars is a fire path to give access to the same flats in an emergency.

[emt_911]

Late home again (19:30) due to two unforeseen events.

 

Firstly I had a ceiling give way under me for which I sustained a few cuts to my hands. I then had to get two of our builders to site so that we could carry out repairs.

 

Secondly the number of accidents on my way home delayed me by 90 minutes. Just what I didn't need after today.

 

Time for a coffee before trying to catch up on RM.

 

Back later

[JohnDMJ]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Car stayed on the drive today as I decided to take a walk into town as it was a good day. Near Basildon station there is was an office block that has been converted into luxury flats. My route takes me past said building and the footpath in front of the building is crowded with parked cars to such an extent that it is difficult to get a pushchair or wheelchair past, thats if there is any part of the footpath that isn't broken and there is no alternative footpath. What makes it worse many of the cars are sporting 'parking permits' issued by the developer of the flats and furthermore part of the area taken up by parked cars is a fire path to give access to the same flats in an emergency.

 

Any vehicle I walk by that is transgressing the pavement gets its offending mirrors 'retracted'!

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone.

 

The nice start to the day didn't last long, by the time I was passing Westhoughton on the M61, it was starting to rain. This then turned to a heavy drizzle which lasted until after I'd got home.

 

This afternoon I was on the Great Swim Local website and noticed that open water swimming starts on Monday 8th May, so I once again registered to swim in Salford Quays, I'm really looking forward to that. Still no date for the Great Manchester Swim yet, so I'll just have to keep, looking I suppose.

 

This evening Sheila has been responding to some of the things I've said with a witty quip or two, so I think she's getting a little better now! I guess I'd best not push my luck anymore now.

 

Last nights postponed Sainsbury's Grand Prix took place tonight, the all the cupboards are now groaning, with all the contents.

 

Despite the weather, I only encountered one or two cockwombles, but the cockwomble of the day must go to the old dear who was driving the wrong way down a one way street, on the FECKING pavement, I mean WTF! Where's a bloody policeman when you want one? Some people are not safe out, never mind behind the wheel of a car.

[tetsudofan]

Evening all, its transition time in the garden. Some daffodils are on the way out, others still in flower. More tulips are getting stronger day by day but the azaleas in this part of the garden are yet to bloom:

 

 

Am off to the garden centre tomorrow to add some more plants to give some more colour. Unfortunately I'm not a plant freak so I just get what I like and see how it goes....

 

Keith

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

Just been looking at the Ally Pally thread.

 

Seems the layouts the pedants like have bright white carriage roofs, despite being steam hauled.  Right gauge though. #realismwhatrealism#

[bluebottle]

You might remember that, about three weeks ago, I posted a picture of my local King George V pillar box showing the effect of its latest collision with a badly driven vehicle. The bad news is that it has now gone to pillar box heaven; the good news is that it has been replaced with a brand new box bearing the monogram of George's granddaughter, HM Queen Elizabeth the First of Scotland and the Second of England! Our local councillors have been praised and thanked by locals under the misapprehension that they had anything to do with the relatively prompt replacement, and this will do no harm at all to our party's chances in the  forthcoming council by-election!

 

[emt_911]

Absolutely shattered and another ER tomorrow for a management meeting at the office. I may even squeeze in a couple of jobs while I'm there as well.

 

Night all

[Barry O]

Nighty night!

[laurenceb]

Night all

[BSW01]

Goodnight all

[andyram]

Evening all. A late night check in before bed. Today has been a very busy day. Despite my expectations the boss did not appear today so it is certain he will be back wielding his notebook to ruin another Friday.

The day proved to be busy with lots of changes to deal with. A few child orientated issues were dealt with across the day. Then I raced over to a local soft play where Amber was attending a friend's birthday party. A family friend had taken her there due to Sarah having to attend a course for work. Sadly our little girl seems to have been hit with another bug. She met me at the door complaining of a headache. Within half an hour she came and sat, sobbing on my knee, stating she wanted to go home. It was clear that she was running a temperature so I took her home early. A dose of Carpol, then pj's and DVD on and she calmed down and had a bite to eat before settling down to sleep.

A couple of work related emails arrived whilst I was sat with Amber. One from the boss outlined a book he had bought that is apparently the new Bible for how I am supposed to be teaching. Apparently I HAVE to implement the suggestions after the Easter break. More changes, as if we haven't had enough! This was the inspiration needed to complete the second application. This has been submitted and means I now have two "live" applications. Tomorrow I am off to view another school after work. I know the place well because it is also Amber's school. The vacancy has been readvertised recently so I have a few questions to ask.

 

Sleep well all.

[andyram]

Good to hear you're back on track now Andy, be it a bit overwhelmed by the workload. I'd be cautious for applying for a job as teacher/deputy head on a school my child goes to, Amber might get negative responses later on when her Daddy is teaching there (and you're bound to get her in class at some point, I'd assume, could become even more awkward). I'm not rejecting it outright, but you really need a careful thought about it and discuss it with Sarah first and foremost.

Thanks for your comments. I had actually considered the prospect of teaching in Amber's school. I discussed the situation with the school's head teacher when the jobs were first advertised. She said it would not be a problem and she would ensure that we would not end up in the same class. As this is a big school (14 classes) it would not be difficult to avoid each other. The original jobs were advertised for the upper classes, but no one seems to have been appointed and it seems they are throwing their net wider. I want to find out what the situation is before I even consider applying. The good thing is the closing date is the end of next month. This means I can wait to see what the outcomes of the other two applications are before I consider submitting an application for this post.

At present I am not considering a deputy headship. I am looking at taking a backward step into a pure teaching job to rebuild my confidence, learn the ways of a new school and regain some kind of work / life balance.

[Gwiwer]

 

 

Congrats to Dom and Elise!

And may I add mine to the list too.  Congratulations on der / die kleine Straßenbahnfahrer

 

 

Mortgages

Took my first out on a fixed 12.5% rate and watched the market rate climb to 15% then, for a few hours, 19% before falling back to around the 13 mark.  I was laughing at the time though as many of us find it was still a challenge to actually make the payments.  I won't get another.  Any future purchase will have to be cash based on the value of the house in Australia (quite reasonable and rising fast) and the share of my parents' joint estate which will in due course be passed down to me.  As thing stand those two combined would purchase a smaller house in a good area of SW London - assuming we are still in that area - without a loan.  Or a modernised stone-built property in a scenic area of west Cornwall.

 

 

Pensions

Something I now have to deal with  In fact something I have been reviewing regularly over the past several years.  My former BR pension os quite small and with UK - Australia transfer arrangements would be taxed out of meaningful existence.  I am better off retiring in the UK.  I can draw that pension a few days after I arrive and shall do so in order to use the lump sum to defray relocation costs and the monthly income to top up what I hope will be a reasonable part-time income.  I should remain well clear of the 40% tax band notwithstanding.  That's called making your money work for you.

 

The boot is on the other foot when Sharon retires which is not for another 10 - 12 years.  Her pension is all with Australian providers and will be substantial.  She would be better off retiring there.  Another bridge to cross when we get a little closer to it.  But if she thinks I'm doing this whole relocation thing again when I'm in my seventies and with no income available to me in Australia .......

 

Painting beckons.  Then a swift clean-up of enough of the house to offer comfort to those coming tonight and tomorrow for Penhayle Bay's final running sessions.  

 

It's Friday.  It's almost beer o'clock.  Avagoodun.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Smiffy2]

Good to hear you're back on track now Andy, be it a bit overwhelmed by the workload. I'd be cautious for applying for a job as teacher/deputy head on a school my child goes to, Amber might get negative responses later on when her Daddy is teaching there (and you're bound to get her in class at some point, I'd assume, could become even more awkward). I'm not rejecting it outright, but you really need a careful thought about it and discuss it with Sarah first and foremost.

 

I had a high-profile rôle in the school all my sons went to. We had a tradition of educating the children of teachers at the school. It works fine if you make it.