Early Risers.

[Gwiwer]

Ladies and gents.

 

This is the last evening (or day, for those up top) I shall have access to the computer until perhaps mid-July.  It has to be packed with everything else.  I still have the phone but only with limited service away from the house wifi.  On 11th May the number will change from Australian to British as I always swap the SIM cards mid-flight.

 

In order to prevent overloading my phone with messages I have to turn off notifications otherwise every reply to ER (and other topics of course) generates a separate email unlike the computer which tells me how many replies I have but only generates one message.

 

A few of you are already on my Farcebook friends list and will be able to follow me there.  I can post here while the phone is in wifi range (anywhere) but may not be aware of replies nor of significant events among our community.  

 

I shall endeavour to keep you updated with the relocation but as the container isn't due into London until the end of June and we don't expect to have our things, including the computer, delivered for a few weeks beyond that it may be well into the summer before I am an active member here again.  You will all be in my thoughts during this intermission.  Best wishes.

[New Haven Neil]

See you, Rick.  Safe journey.

 

A notalot morning, although I am to be bowled along to Ramsey Prom later as there's a bike show that Mrs NHN wishes to go to, and she's not going without me!

 

John is having fun with the Steamplex at the Ffestiniog, but had a bit of a whoopsie yesterday.  The  fest driver had hooked up to a large bogie open wagon and a brake van of some kind for a trip up the line, John was a little worried about the all up weight of 7 tons but the Fes driver thought it was OK - then two tons of passengers got in!  They got so far, but as they were having to change to low gear for the banks lost too much time and had to cut short the journey and return.  She's not a big engine, it was just too heavy.  We have a much bigger twin cylinder engine we are busy overhauling to fit - next time!

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Plenty of rain last night but after a hint of sunshine earlier it's now clouding over and more rain expected. 

There will be no gardening today.

We had a really good day yesterday at Nicki's, plenty of laughs, lots of food and possibly a slight excess of drink. The Boss didn't feel too well earlier which is very unusual but seems to be OK now.

Not sure what today will bring but we won't be going anywhere as I refuse to drive any distance on Bank Holidays.

Have a good one,

Bob.

[lightengine]

Andyram plenty of photos on SWAG.

 

Raining again in sunny Teignmouth. At least the dead moss is being washed off the roof.

 

Enjoy your last week in Oz, Rick.

 

Ivan, hope you are improving.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Bit of an earlier riser than normal this morning, blearily looking at my watch I mis-read the time and thought I had overslept whereas in fact I was three quarters of an hour early, of course I didn't realise this until after I was washed and dressed. I decided last night not to do the Corringham Light Railway walk today because of the weather and I'm still tired after yesterdays exertions. Sorting out the goodies I snaffled at the show yesterday from the Oxford stand, a total of 22 models for less than £50. Actually I only bought 21 home, one of the models the model vehicle club chairman offered me a fiver for and I accepted. This was a model bus from one of the Oxford 'Goody bags' which contain four or five models RRP value at least £25 for £10 which Oxford sell at such events.  They also sell damaged and imperfect models for £1 each, I found one model van where the damage was confined to the box, the model is perfectly intact, bargain! A couple of the others have disintegrated due to being dropped and are a 'box of bits', one in particular will be an ideal source of wheels for a code 3 project. I noted this morning that Carol delivered the weather forecast from the Truckfest that looked very empty before the gates open, yesterday the place was heaving. Thats it for now, be back later. Oops forgot to mention, hope the move goes well Rick and that we hear from you as soon as.

[emt_911]

Good luck with the move Rick. Looking forward to having you back with us soon.

[81C]

Up early today to move the drinks fridge that lives in the garage under the layout it finally expired so I had to make room for a most important delivery of a new one which arrives tomorrow, the new SiL is a builder

 I'm hoping he will take some of my unwanted heavy duty builder tools rather than dump them to free up more space for the long awaited Spray Booth which has been living in it's boxes for 2 birthdays a present from

SWMBO   who keeps moaning I haven't used it yet and what a waste of money it was  .

No peace for the wicked as they say she is beckoning me to move heavy things around in the garden. 

[The Stationmaster]

G'day all,

 

All the best for the transfer process Rick and may your container be safely delivered in due course (get the name of the ship, or better still container tracking links and keep an eye on progress).

 

Rain here last night which has mightily pleased the Head Gardener whose carrots are now appearing and whose leeks she planted out yesterday so the veg patch is not quite full.  We might venture down to the town for the May Fayre although it will be a matter of dodging the showers if Exeter's seaweed is in proper working order.  This year it has moved back into the town centre one consequence being that laddo and the Round Table lot are not doing a beer tent (shame as he mixes a nice drop of Pimms) and were somewhat insulted when their offer of help was simply responded to by 'you can run a tug of war' - so they've bowed out after years of supporting the event; no doubt the recently appointed 'Town Centre Manager' has been exercising her newly acquired powers and wants things done her way.  But we'll still pop out for a look - unless cats (other than our two) and dogs are descending from the heavens.

 

Enjoy your day one & all

[Tony_S]

I have managed to fit the new light successfully to the utility room ceiling. It looks quite nice, smarter than the bare bulb in the ceiling socket.

Time for doggy walk now.

Amazon were due to deliver some little hats to cover some downlighter lamps that protrude into the loft. They claim they couldn't leave the package this morning. Well no one attempted to leave anything. I suspect they don't have a code for couldn't get courier to work on a bank holiday. I am not actually bothered, I was surprised they even said it would come today.

Tony

[Horsetan]

...Ivan, hope you are improving.

It doesn't seem to be getting any worse. Maybe that's just the effect of the painkillers.

[Ohmisterporter]

See you, Rick.  Safe journey.

 

A notalot morning, although I am to be bowled along to Ramsey Prom later as there's a bike show that Mrs NHN wishes to go to, and she's not going without me!

 

John is having fun with the Steamplex at the Ffestiniog, but had a bit of a whoopsie yesterday.  The  fest driver had hooked up to a large bogie open wagon and a brake van of some kind for a trip up the line, John was a little worried about the all up weight of 7 tons but the Fes driver thought it was OK - then two tons of passengers got in!  They got so far, but as they were having to change to low gear for the banks lost too much time and had to cut short the journey and return.  She's not a big engine, it was just too heavy.  We have a much bigger twin cylinder engine we are busy overhauling to fit - next time!

 

I noticed the Steamplex had a diesel at the rear to give a push where needed. The main thing is for the visiting crews to enjoy the weekend and want to come back to the next event. Not sure how a Garratt would manage at Groudle Glen though.

[bluebottle]

Jim, have read the quoted article and cannot agree with its conclusions as there is no evidence presented vs the number of publications that have shown an increase.  It has been difficult to study because of the large number of variables including kidney function and overall time to correctly follow through.  The safest course is of course not to imbibe.  Going back to my early NHS days pregnant women in labour were often given alcohol because small doses 'enhanced' liver function but its certainly not current practice.

 

Peter

 

Some years ago, Liz told me about a new mother amongst her fellow teachers who brought her baby to the school to receive the admiration of all. During the visit, she breast fed the infant, and later changed his/her nappy, leaving the staffroom suffused with the subdued but unmistakeable aroma of Guinness for the rest of the morning ...

 

Edit: Jamie's post below reminds me that I had omitted the relevant detail about the nappy change!

Edited May 1, 2017 by bluebottle

[jamie92208]

Some years ago, Liz told me about a new mother amongst her fellow teachers who brought her baby to the school to receive the admiration of all. During the visit, she breast fed the infant, leaving the staffroom suffused with the subdued but unmistakeable aroma of Guinness for the rest of the morning ...

 

From memory (My 3 are all in their 30's now) the mother's diet does seem to come through the bairn quite quickly. Cauliflower and sprouts were soon avoided.

 

Jamie

[Sidecar Racer]

 During the visit, she breast fed the infant, leaving the staffroom suffused with the subdued but unmistakeable aroma of Guinness for the rest of the morning ...

 

 So would that be milk stout then ?

[Horsetan]

So would that be milk stout then ?

Contains iron.

[Dick Turpin]

My mum always said they recommended Guiness, can't think why. There's always been a lot of myths surrounding Guinness, but from what I can tell it has no more food value than any other beer, probably less in some cases. It's only black because of the roasted barley for a start - carbon? .

 

 

Mind you I've also heard that at one time doctors used to recommend smoking in some cases, though I can't find any reference to it at present, so that one may have just been anecdotal.

Edited May 1, 2017 by Dick Turpin

[tractionman]

 

Mind you I've also heard that at one time doctors used to recommend smoking in some cases, though I can't find any reference to it at present, so that one may have just been anecdotal.

My students' favourite source of all knowledge and wisdom (ahem) sets out some of the historic uses of tobacco, and smoking for medicinal purposes, some of which were still being pedalled in the last century by cigarette manufacturers,

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco

 

And the medical qualities of the plant are still being explored scientifically, not smoking it though!

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

Edited May 1, 2017 by tractionman

[Ian Abel]

Morning all.

Of course most of "you lot" are basking in yet another public holiday, chance would be a fine thing.

 

Much of the weekend was surrounded by a cloud of flustercuck, and much too annoying to report so I'll avoid it.

Friday having missed going to fix the cabin plumbing due to stupid people at the client cloud environment, I then realized that since pretty much ALL my useful tools were left up there, in anticipation of being there Friday, I was unable to do anything constructive on the layout all weekend - I was reduced to running trains instead <shame, shame they cried>

I DID get a chance to run-in my latest acquisition, a Hornby 2898XS Schools "St. Paul", obtain for a bargain price ($120), and though unboxed appears perfect otherwise, and very nice sound. I now have FOUR sound locos, who'd have thought, sound wasn't even on my radar a year ago, now I'm quite taken with it

Just in case Debs hadn't noticed... trains, trains, trains, trains   

 

The plan was to therefore take today off and "do the plumbing", however a storm with a snow/sleet/rain mix, is covering the area north of us, so that's not happening. Working instead.

 

Last night we attended an excellent concert by a local group "Collective Unconscious". One of our choir directors is the keyboardist part of the group. They "specialize" in finding '60s-'70s albums that they feel are unique, and performing the entire thing. This time it was "Deja Vu", Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. They were outstanding.

 

3 and rain here, 2 and rain snow mix at the cabin <sigh> and it's MAY!!!! High of 5 here today mostly rain but we might see some snow mixed it apparently.

 

"MAY" the day treat you well...

[Dick Turpin]

My students' favourite source of all knowledge and wisdom (ahem) sets out some of the historic uses of tobacco, and smoking for medicinal purposes, some of which were still being pedalled in the last century by cigarette manufacturers

 

There are some lovely adverts: 

 

 

This one for example. Ho ho.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all.

Of course most of "you lot" are basking in yet another public holiday, chance would be a fine thing.

 

Much of the weekend was surrounded by a cloud of flustercuck, and much too annoying to report so I'll avoid it.

Friday having missed going to fix the cabin plumbing due to stupid people at the client cloud environment, I then realized that since pretty much ALL my useful tools were left up there, in anticipation of being there Friday, I was unable to do anything constructive on the layout all weekend - I was reduced to running trains instead <shame, shame they cried>

I DID get a chance to run-in my latest acquisition, a Hornby 2898XS Schools "St. Paul", obtain for a bargain price ($120), and though unboxed appears perfect otherwise, and very nice sound. I now have FOUR sound locos, who'd have thought, sound wasn't even on my radar a year ago, now I'm quite taken with it

Just in case Debs hadn't noticed... trains, trains, trains, trains   

 

The plan was to therefore take today off and "do the plumbing", however a storm with a snow/sleet/rain mix, is covering the area north of us, so that's not happening. Working instead.

 

Last night we attended an excellent concert by a local group "Collective Unconscious". One of our choir directors is the keyboardist part of the group. They "specialize" in finding '60s-'70s albums that they feel are unique, and performing the entire thing. This time it was "Deja Vu", Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. They were outstanding.

 

3 and rain here, 2 and rain snow mix at the cabin <sigh> and it's MAY!!!! High of 5 here today mostly rain but we might see some snow mixed it apparently.

 

"MAY" the day treat you well...

May day was once celebrated in America more than in the UK.

 

http://www.treehugger.com/culture/happy-may-day-which-used-be-green-instead-red-2015.html

Edited May 1, 2017 by PhilJ W

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

All posts are now, at last, read and rated, and best wishes to all on here, and a particular mention to RIck - sorry to hear of the final closure of PB, but needs must, and Australia's loss will be the UKs gain if a similar project is embarked upon here once all is settled and a new home for a layout is found.  Meantime, I'd just like to check if the farcebook page is the PB one, or is there a separate one that I should be putting a friend request on?

 

Late on parade as the weather improved this morning, and we were awake early, so went off to sell at a car boot, and only just got back, unpacked, dined, refreshed, and caught up.

 

Back tomorrow.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[emt_911]

Some modelling has been achieved but the Bank Holiday has been unexpectedly expensive.

 

The last Bank Holiday, our road was parking under Sunday rules. Since then, they have replaced the parking meter and changed the parking restrictions for Bank Holidays. It's now the same as any other week day. I've now been caught out to the tune of £65 if I pay in 14 days.

[Dick Turpin]

Well I'll tell you what. I've had a lovely couple of hours looking through posts, commenting on stuff, poking fun and having a chuckle. Thanks all. I just felt like saying that this forum, and you guys, really knock Faecesbook and the like for six! 

[Tony_S]

I don't know if commenting on ERs has as much influence as other social media but if you recall I mentioned the non appearance of the fire bonnets for my loft lights. Well at 5 o'clock there was a courier at the door with a box from Amazon.

Earlier this afternoon I had a phone call from the chap who will be doing the post installation check and "optimisation" on our new water softener. He wondered if we would mind being his first call tomorrow. "Very happy to be", I replied.

Hopefully the shower replacement on Wednesday will go smoothly too. As the manufacturer are sending out a chap to replace it cheaper than I could purchase it and fit it myself it seemed like a good offer.

Tony

[Ozexpatriate]

May day was once celebrated in America more than in the UK.

 

http://www.treehugger.com/culture/happy-may-day-which-used-be-green-instead-red-2015.html

It's not clear from the article that there was that much of the pre-Christian Ostara / Ēostre aspects of May Day in the US. Somehow I suspect not. It appears there were 'sanitised' versions in the nineteenth century in women's colleges. I don't remember reading about any commemoration in the colonial period - certainly not in Massachusetts.

 

Wikipedia concurs regarding the turbulence of the capital v. labour tension in the Gilded Age and describes how commemoration of that day was moved to the end of summer where Labor Day is safely separated from any notion of 'workers of the world unite' and is more about the last weekend of summer and the beginning of the NFL season.