Early Risers.

[Smiffy2]

Well, I've not been around much lately, due to that manflu thing. Seems to be over now, apart from the cough. Apologies for unauthorised absence.

 

It's been a rollercoastery few days. Best news - son's partner's sister had a boy - Rochford - and Henry and Laurence have a new cousin.

Other good news - Rose had her 2nd birthday, and Daisy has been good.

Done some modelling - refurbishing some old 0-16.5 carriages I made back in 1980... it seems I could solder a brass kit together in those days. Who knew? These are for the Lancre Narrow Gauge Raile-Way, a spur from the Ankh Morpork and Sto Plains Hygienic Railway into the witch-rich lands of The Mountains. There are some carriages, some goods wagons, a loco (No 5, 'Gytha') but, as yet, no track...

 

Less good news - Just got a Facebook message from an ex-student (now in her early 40s) to say that she was out for the evening in Soho and was approached by a beggar whom she recognised as a boy from her year at school - one I taught. She said it threw her, in a few seconds he recognised her and backed off, justifying himself saying he'd had a hard time. He then disappeared, obviously on drugs and looks homeless. Made her so sad. "He was such a joker at school. Wish I could help him..."

He was a great kid, looked a bit like Alfred E Neumann, always a bit cheeky, as she says, a joker. I wouldn't have seen anything amiss in him at 16. There but for some bad luck go you or I. I hope he get some help.

 

Governors' Meeting this afternoon. Long, convoluted and hot. Nice site walk, though.

 

Morning off tomorrow, then Daisy and Rose. Should be excellent weather for a romp in the garden. More modelling in the morning.

 

So best wishes to all, and so as the knife and fork of the weekend slide into the dessert spoon of the weekend, I wish one and all happiness.
 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BR60103]

One of my clients has just paid £193,000 or so to HMRC. He said it had strong, sentimental value and he found it painful to part with it....

Will the Historical Model Railway Club use it to expand their transfer range?

Edited May 11, 2017 by BR60103

[emt_911]

Morning all. Clear skies and the forecast is promising.

 

Looking forward to getting home later today and I'm hoping that attendance at the MRC will be an option tonight.

 

Time for another coffee.

 

Have a good day everyone

[BR60103]

The 10th is our wedding anniversary. 43rd.  No fuss; a lunch at the Boathouse.

 

Agreed to have the roof reshingled. Neighbour was having his done and we liked the way they worked. Materials delivered on Friday, work started Tuesday morning and finished early Wednesday afternoon and skip removed. Company's representative said they now had their own skips as previous supplier had left one in a driveway for 3 days. He also made a fuss over the cats. 

 

The Village's swans may be settling in. There was a pair when we moved in,but one died. The first replacement was chased off by the long-term resident. He seems to have made a friend in the winter quarters -- they are always close together but on the weekend they were out of the ponds, crossed the road (4 lanes) and invaded the university parking lot.

 

Friend helped run a layout for the NMRA convention and was rewarded with a pile of Kitmaster kits. He's offered them to me. I'm not sure I can do them justice (or find a place on my layout!) but they include 3 TT coaches.

[AndyID]

Ah, a trip up the BOB for Tony and Aditi, excellent stuff and not a bad journey to there from Zurich airport (have they still got the 'planes suspended over various public areas I wonder?).  I spent a week in Grindelwald at 'Forum Train Europe' getting on for 20 years ago and found it a very pleasant place but it was made even more pleasant by having a 'Letter of Authority' for travel on the BOB plus they and the other concerns involved extended us the rather nice offer of a letter authorising purchase of a quarter price journey to the top of the Jungfrau and back, only spoilt by finding Anthea bloomin' Turner larking about posing for a photographic shoot 'at the top of Europe'.  My hotel room looked out right at the Eiger but I'd been there for three days before  the cloud lifted sufficiently to reveal it.  Smashing area for a break and plenty to see and do but not exactly cheap alas.

 

Really nice part of the world but I think most of the shops in Interlaken selling model railway items have ceased to do so (probably just as well judging by the prices in one) and the local preservation group based in a shed at Interlaken Ost used to have open days on Fridays but I don't know what the situation is now after their shed burnt down some years ago.  There used to be an excellent burger stall just outside the station at Interlaken Ost but the last time I looked it had been take n over by a Vietnamese and had rather gone down hill.

 

 

G'night all

 

Yikes! I've been to Interlaken a couple of times. I just realized our last visit was forty-two years ago. I imagine it's probably changed a bit since then.

 

We have to drive over a pass to get from here to town. It's not a very extreme pass, but the scenery always reminds me of Switzerland.

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dry and only 7^oC at present but a warm day is forecast with some cloud, sunshine, showers and the risk of thunder.

Last night at about 10,30 the garden security light came on and stayed on for quite a while. "Aha" thought I, "An intruder"  so I picked up my trusty pump action and very quietly opened the conservatory door. There was nothing to be seen but I stood there without moving for about 10 minutes. The light should have gone off but didn't and then I felt a presence behind me. Looking up I saw that bloody black & white cat standing on the flippin' roof just staring at me and waving its tail! I fired, missed and once again the perisher eluded me and skedaddled into next door's garden. 

Today is normally our main shopping day but it will only be basics because from tomorrow The Boss has extra discount for a few days.  Her firm have given this to all staff at the same time as giving them a performance bonus. Obviously want their money back.   

Have a good one, 
Bob.

 

 

PS A Very Happy Anniversary to Mr & Mrs David.

Edited May 11, 2017 by grandadbob

[AndyID]

 

Last night at about 10,30 the garden security light came on and stayed on for quite a while. "Aha" thought I, "An intruder"  so I picked up my trusty pump action and very quietly opened the conservatory door. There was nothing to be seen but I stood there without moving for about 10 minutes. The light should have gone off but didn't and then I felt a presence behind me. Looking up I saw that bloody black & white cat standing on the flippin' roof just staring at me and waving its tail! I fired, missed and once again the perisher eluded me and skedaddled into next door's garden.

 

Have you tried adding some eau de fox* to the water?

 

*dog whizz might work too

[grandadbob]

Might be a bit difficult persuading a fox (and they're another problem) to load my weapon! 

 

 

Although they'd probably cr#p on it if I left it out, they do it everywhere else.

Edited May 11, 2017 by grandadbob

[newbryford]

I hope the weather in Vancouver is as nice as it has been in Portland these last four days. We should almost reach 25C today in bright sunshine.

 

It is expected to rain tomorrow, with a steep drop in temperature.

 

Today was quite pleasant. There were a few drops of rain before the seaplane trip, but it receded for  clear trip over the Harbour and city.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[newbryford]

Mick,

  Sounds like you had fun.

 

If you see Jemma  (HAR HAR) say hi She lands there in about an hour 12:30 local time, and will fly the outbound back to Minneapolis tomorrow at 0640, I expect you'll NOT be at the airport then!!

 

We are at the airport tomorrow, but that'll be mid-morning to pick up a rental car. Far cheaper than collecting downtown with a drop-off charge for returning it to the airport in a couple of days.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

Late to bed, early to rise, leads to bags under the eyes.  The 'late to bed' was worth it following last night's concert.  Calan's music is exciting and Welsh though they did seem to be having problems with the sound to judge by the gestures from the stage asking repeatedly for this or that to be turned up or down.  Even with all that I could barely hear the pibgorn, which in full cry is a rasping, strident instrument not unlike the bombarde.  It matters little, for I have four more new CDs.  Four?  The other three were by the support, Dan Wilde, who is a cut above the archetypal singer-songwriter in that he seems to enjoy sharing what he has written and telling how the song came to be created.  Despite being consigned to an all-stations Thameslink train which was full and standing leaving St Pancras I was at home by 00.10 with the aid of a taxi.  I am not braving Bedford town centre on foot at that time of night, so there.

 

Today will be more routine and prosaic as the fodder run needs to be done and I must sort out my overnight bag for Saturday.  If I do not mow the lawn soon it will be knocking on the window and if the threatened rain materialises it will cause more delay.  Higher up the urgency scale is to put out the bin for emptying as I forgot two weeks ago.  Oh, and i ant to get something written ahead of tomorrow to inform a discussion.  It's all go here.

 

Warm thoughts to all in distress

 

Chris

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It is another nice bright sunny morning in this part of the world.

 

Today, I will be in the office until lunchtime, and then return home as the Gas people are coming to change the Gas Meter.  Then, the plan is to run the gauntlet with the town hall and sort out my ID card.

 

Time for a coffee!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[JohnDMJ]

 

Really nice part of the world but I think most of the shops in Interlaken selling model railway items have ceased to do so (probably just as well judging by the prices in one)

 

G'night all

 

Only Buhler's is left, www.buehler-interlaken.ch (just a few minutes walk from Interlaken West, direction Interlaken East

[trisonic]

The very last ER camping trip.......

 

 

Own up.

 

Best, Pete.

 

[roundhouse]

Only Buhler's is left, www.buehler-interlaken.ch (just a few minutes walk from Interlaken West, direction Interlaken East

Yes remember looking in the window of that store. Some really nice models but the prices weren't to my wallets liking even back ten years ago.

[45156]

Morning All

 

AWOL agaoin, due to too much other stuff getting in the way.  So it's greetings to all who need them, and a special mention to Simon, and belated birthday and anniversary mentions to those who were celebrating these events.

 

Not a great deal has happened here, though the car is now MOTd and has four safe tyres again - also had to take the car back to the tyre place as the tracking was probably off, which caused the uneven tyre wear - actually out by 3^o which is apparently quite bad.  Then a visit to a local Polish car wash, where they were so slick that it was very like going through an automatic wash, and left the car looking like new, and cost a fiver, and ten minutes of my time.

 

May not be back now til Sunday, as a couple of days away are on the cards.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

Edited May 11, 2017 by 45156

[Horsetan]

Will the Historical Model Railway Club use it to expand their transfer range?

I think my client found the experience taxing.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

It's sunny, but not as sunny as yesterday, breakfast has been consumed and tea drunk.

Today I will be travelling north on the M6 to Morecambe and Lancaster.

 

Back later

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Less overcast with almost sunny intervals here.

Another day in the garage planned. I didn't hear any expensive sounds of shelf collapse in the night so I assume all is well.

Tony

[Donw]

The Porch roof is now covered by the EDPM (think of a pond liner but thicker) although it was a late finish last night (and missed the MRC)  I hope to put the glass in the windows and fit the door today before we get any heavy showers.

Enjoy your day.

 

Don

[Barry O]

Another day another cricket match! The annual GSAL v MCC match. Lunch with the principal

 

Managed to get sunburnt yesterday ...more suntan lotionLotion needs to be applied.

 

Have a nice day- Rick hope the cough goes away ..what track are you going to use??

 

Baz

[TheQ]

Morning Awl,

A good nights sleep, I awoke after 5 hours as usual, and was comtemplating getting up when I fell asleep again so 6.5 hours sleep was acheived!!!

 

 An hour before I went yesterday I went wandering around to my Bosses area looking for a current shunt to be calibrated, and found he had incorporated it in a new experimental one off unit, with 4 other shunts. That will be an extra 8 hours work a year calibrating them.  I was presented with the unit to be tested and a quick check found it didn't work, it's now back on his desk in pieces...

 

On peering out of the window this morning  I observed the car was covered in Frost again, but by the time I left 3/4 an hour later it had melted..

 

Time to measure another Shunt and then an internal customers unit which contains 10 resistors. By which time the boss may have sorted the problem with the new unit...

Edited May 11, 2017 by TheQ

[Happy Hippo]

GDB, have you thought of a flanking move on the cat?

 

it is used to you operating at ground level, so perhaps a change of location, such as an upstairs window might catch the blighter out...................

 

Or would you be like the moth to a light and be forced to fall out just to prove you are the original GDB we have all come to love?

[45156]

I think my client found the experience taxing.

I just wish that I had the assets to justify that size of tax bill