Early Risers.

[trisonic]

Sorry! Just playing catch up!

 

 

This is not photoshopped, look at it closely......

 

 

 

Best, Pete.

[AndrewC]

Morning all from the borough of boring. 

 

Get better soon Tony. If I find out from Aditi that you haven't been behaving and taking it easy, I'll get fierce on you. 

 

Yes I'm up at WTF o clock. However, I doubled my average number of hours of sleep last night. About time too. Not sure if that means my back is easing up or if I've just slept through the discomfort due to being exhausted. 

 

I see that nice Mr Shron in Ontario has plotted once more on lightening my wallet. GMD SW1200RS in HO. I may have to put my first born on eBay to raise the funds for a small fleet. 

 

That's about it from here. Ice pack and coffee time for me. Enjoy your day. 

[Ozexpatriate]

I see that nice Mr Shron in Ontario has plotted once more on lightening my wallet. GMD SW1200RS in HO. I may have to put my first born on eBay to raise the funds for a small fleet.

I appreciated Mr. Shron's Op Ed at the end of his recent missive.

 

In fact essentially that same topic has had me spending much more time here in the Early Risers thread than RMweb topics with lots of what I find to be hyperbolic 'criticism'. It's nice here.

 

Of course one of the other reasons ER is a 'nice place' is the avoidance of politics.

I'm fine thanks. I've not bothered to post for a while because I got fed up with politics creeping in here.

Me too.

Yes, as much as I find it hard to not want to howl at the moon regarding politics today (particularly on this side of the pond), there's no place for it here.

 

Best wishes to everyone struggling with their health or the health of a loved one, family crises, professional uncertainty and other troubles we are comfortable in sharing here..

Edited June 27, 2017 by Ozexpatriate

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Nice to know that someone loves me and I've been missed!

Rather overcast this morning. Some bright or sunny spells forecast followed by rain. I hope there's plenty because my lawn/clover/weed patch needs it. It will also save me getting the hose out for all the tomato plants and other potted stuff.

During my absence, apart from Gemma's birthday, Chris and I celebrated our 47th anniversary and went away for a couple of days and stayed near Winchester. We had a really enjoyable time and included visits to the Milestones Museum at Basingstoke and Marwell Zoo (mainly for the giraffes which are her favourite animal)

 

This chap was cleaning windows at the time!

 

 

 

The Watercress Line was unfortunately avoided as nothing was running on the Friday which was the only day we could have gone.

We also had a large BBQ on Father's day with all family and some friends so there were 4 fathers. present. I'm glad to report that a considerable amount of liquid refreshment accompanied the food which was ably prepared by son Steve and the grandchildren. Regrettably my friend Russ got a phone call to say his 85yo Mum had had a fall and was rushed to hospital. She was later discharged (against his wishes) but the following day had another fall and has a broken ankle and a broken toe in t'other foot. They have now kept her in.

Yesterday I visited the optician for an eye test (which was a year overdue) and  although I have cataracts appearing my prescription hasn't changed so that was a bit of a relief. I was admonished for ignoring last year's reminder. Difficult to ignore something that you didn't get but I suppose I should have remembered that I needed a test.

That's about it for now apart from Rugby. I suppose "Oops" could be said about Saturday's result although it didn't surprise me. Hopefully we'll get a win today but I won't hold my breath about the remaining Tests.....but stranger things have happened.

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited June 27, 2017 by grandadbob

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

First of all, best wishes to Tony.  Hope you are feeling better today.

 

It is a somewhat cloudy morning today - by all accounts it is due to rain later with the threat of electrical storms.  At least that should cool things down a little bit.

 

There isn't a lot else to report, so time for a coffee!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

I had another half-hour in the garden yesterday morning but soon got hot and bothered even before the backache kicked in.  Undeterred, I plan to venture out there again this morning once I have done the fodder run.  I got a bit of m*d*ll*ng done as well.  Two comics came in the post.  One called for an immediate letter to the editor as the captions in one of the features needed some clarification.  The other went to the top of the insomnia pile and had the desired effect.

 

Tony S, you poor man.  Get well soon - it sounds nasty.  Too many have been smitten with unwelcome ailments lately but then what other kind is there?  Fond thoughts to all in distress.

 

Chris

[Ozexpatriate]

I have some good news to relate. Some readers may recall that on Good Friday I was informed that after almost 23 years with the company my position was eliminated and I was presented with severance papers.

 

My termination date was extended a couple of times and In the interregnum, a position was opened for me that is well suited to my particular set of skills with essentially the same remuneration.

 

It may be a stay of execution. I expect some more organizational trauma next year, but now I have time to mentally prepare should it come to that, .Now I am busier than ever. With any luck I can hang in there for a few years yet.

[TheQ]

Morning Awl,

A good night's sleep,

There is a piece on a couple visiting every railway station in GB on BBC breakfast this morning.

Concreting planned for today.

[JohnDMJ]

Morning Awl,

A good night's sleep,

There is a piece on a couple visiting every railway station in GB on BBC breakfast this morning.

Concreting planned for today.

 

Is that before or after the closures?

[emt_911]

Morning all. A bit overcast but still pleasant at the moment.

 

Kidderminster today but I don't think that the surroundings will be as picturesque as yesterday. There is possibly another model shop to visit as well.

 

GDB - Belated congratulations to yourself and Chris.

 

Time for another coffee.

 

Have a good day everyone.

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a rather cloudy Charente.

 

Tony I do hope that the various antibiotics do their stuff and that things improve soonest. Rick and Neil I hope that the feet continue to improve and GDB and Smiffy plus Pete it's good to have you back amongst us.

 

Michael, good news about the job.

 

Here I'm having a peaceful breakfast. No combines going past this morning. Various things got done yesterday and I did manage to post the letter renewing my magazine subscription. I even managed to be allowed some time I the shed to put up racking and start to unpack various runs of railway mags.

 

After dinner we went out to clear the windblown grass cuttings from the pool. I'd made the mistake of not covering it when the jungle was mown. I ended up in the pool with the pool hoover clearing the bottom of the pool. Beth spent her time skimming the surface and cleaning the pool hoover filter when it was full. Next time the grass is cut we must remember the cover. Anyway afterwards it was time for a large G & T for her and a nice glass of Scottish medicine for me.

 

In an hour or So I'm off to Niort to see a financial adviser about whether or not to register to pay taxes here in France. On first inspection it looks as if it may well be a cheaper option once we both start drawing our pensions. I've also got to visit the DIY store and might even see what the station looks like. It's on the line that feeds La Rochelle so could be interesting.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[Barry O]

It is chucking it down here at the moment. Methinks no cricket today....bumocks!

 

Belated anniversary greetings Mr and Ms Grandadbob.

 

Dick that shellfish looks super! And nearly all of it is very good for you..honest. But if you have anything like that again I need to taste it for you first..just in case it's not quite right......

 

Onwards and upwards as they say...

 

Back later

Baz

[AndyB]

Morning all, and it's an overcast one here today and threatening rain. The car needed a wash so no bad thing. 

 

I think we all knew that GB was ok; after all COBRA had not been reported meeting to discuss his latest mishap! 

 

Taxing duties today with an early appointment for one child with the dentist - some distance away so off shortly to join the rush hour traffic. 

 

Tomorrow evening, post exam, I'll either be in the pub or trying to sort out a rogue point on the layout. As Lieutenant Gruber might say, "My little tank speeds up and goes whoosh all over it." 

 

Good to see our Whelking-correspondent back again and with a report from Cancale. A place we visited on our hols a couple of years ago, where I partook of oysters, also.

I still remember fondly a large "fruits de mer" event in Whitstable in the mid-90s. I think the oysters did the trick!

 

Wondering if Mal took a stroll down to see HMSQE squeeze under the bridge? 

 

Have a nice day everyone. 

[AndyID]

I have some good news to relate. Some readers may recall that on Good Friday I was informed that after almost 23 years with the company my position was eliminated and I was presented with severance papers.

 

My termination date was extended a couple of times and In the interregnum, a position was opened for me that is well suited to my particular set of skills with essentially the same remuneration.

 

It may be a stay of execution. I expect some more organizational trauma next year, but now I have time to mentally prepare should it come to that, .Now I am busier than ever. With any luck I can hang in there for a few years yet.

 

Good news indeed! But I'm sure you know what to do. You need to kick them in the goolies in the hardest possible way. Nothing personal of course. It's simply business.

[grandadbob]

Usual pre-rugby breakfast of boiled eggs and "soldiers" will shortly be consumed before settling down to watch the game. You'll probably realise the significance of this particular choice of breakfast. 

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

It's chucking it down here too. Back to work this morning and I'm off to Nantwich and Sandbach for the final few sites on this months information gathering list.

 

Bob and Chris. Congratulations On you recent anniversary.

 

Pete. Is it Ted Cassidy playing the guitar?

[TheQ]

Is that before or after the closures?

That would depend if the train was on time and they got there before the staff closed up for the night

 

It was nice to see the couple call it a railway station not that awful TV term "train" station

[45156]

Morning All

 

Unusually, I am fully caught up, even though I didn't get here later yesterday.  Much water has passed under the ER bridge yesterday, and it's great to see Dick, Pete and Bob back among our number - and I know Debs will put in an appearance sometime, but followers of her FB pages will know what's going on.

 

Tony - at least you have a diagnosis now, and that's for the best.  Take the meds as prescribed, take it easy, and get better quickly - hopefully without too much MIL intervention.  It probably doesn't help that many of Aditi's family are medicos of one sort or another.

Bob - happy anniversary.

Everybody else, generic greetings.

 

This is my last visit for a while as we leave at 5AM tomorrow for the second leg of our house sitting holiday.

 

Rainy here in Lancaster, and a taxi run to get Lily into kennels (30747 already dropped at work) which will extend to finding the University branch of Barclays, as the city branch remains closed ("until further notice", though their call centre and website know NOTHING of this).  I know Geoff could tell me, but he appears to be away still - once he gets that caravan away, there's no stopping him.  Then an eye test this morning, and a semi humungous shopping list....

 

Oh and my sympathies to our boring borough correspondent, on the lack of GP cover.  I had no idea how good ours was here until I discussed it with others.  We have about 13 GPs, 11 of whom are partners, to serve 14.000 patients.   It is probably as good as it gets.

 

Back next week.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[NGT6 1315]

Mawnin' awl. Belated best wishes to Bob and Chris and a round of supportive thoughts for Tony, first thing!

 

Bit cloudy outside but pleasant. Apparently, we're in for t-storm activities beginning in the afternoon and repeating itself by tomorrow, though. We shall see, I guess, but any bit of precip will be a boon for the garden!

 

 

I appreciated Mr. Shron's Op Ed at the end of his recent missive.
 
 

 

 

Oh yes, thanks for pointing this part out. I had received that e-mail also (having pre-ordered a BC Rail Dash 8 for my Canadian section) but hadn't read that far down, apparently. Frankly, that's one reason why I rarely frequent German modelling forums at this time as they tend to become cesspools of whining ever so often!

 

Enjoy whatever you're up to!

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Thank you for all the good wishes. I am being good. I enjoyed a cup of tea this morning.

I am very aware of how good our local GPs are and it is a pity that all cannot enjoy such good service. As someone mentioned a lot of Aditi's relatives are "medical" but I think MiL considers she outranks them having once worked as a GP receptionist before she became a language teacher.

Tony

Edited June 27, 2017 by Tony_S

[Happy Hippo]

 

' I ended up in the pool with the pool hoover clearing the bottom of the pool. Beth spent her time skimming the surface and cleaning the pool hoover filter when it was full. Next time the grass is cut we must remember the cover. Anyway afterwards it was time for a large G & T for her and a nice glass of Scottish medicine for me.'

 

 

There was no need to do that, just shovel in a couple of spade fulls of mud and invite me over.

 

The Scottish medicine would be a nice bonus.

[Happy Hippo]

When things go wrong at the Hippodrome, they never go wrong in the singular.

 

The Central heating (we don't need it at present) and hot water maker has decided to throw a fault that is beyond my capability, so I've had to call out the boiler people.

 

Then my Powercab has stopped working:  It started jumping into programming mode when I wanted to run a loco, and now the function keys will not work at all.  It has had very little use since new  but since it is electrickery, I am loathe to hit it with my hammer to see it that will free things up.

 

I have isolated the problem to the handset, as a friend came around last night with his Powercab, and we coupled it up and his worked perfectly through my cabling and wiring.

 

Of course not all is doom and gloom.

 

I renewed my multicar insurance, it is less than last years.

 

Tomorrow we are off to Margam for a few days to see my mother.

 

Elsa and the PH will remain behind as the rearguard.

[laurenceb]

Belated Happy Anniversary Chris & GDBob

Keep being good Tony

Good to see the return of Dick & Pete T

Morning awl

[Ashcombe]

..........In an hour or So I'm off to Niort to see a financial adviser about whether or not to register to pay taxes here in France. On first inspection it looks as if it may well be a cheaper option once we both start drawing our pensions. .......Regards to all.Jamie

It's Ian's belief that if you are being taxed in France, your combined income is totalled then halved in order to calculate the tax due. Ian now pays more tax than when Deb was alive because his income was greater than hers and he is now taxed as a single person. As I'm not a French resident, I'm taxed in England.

 

Do you know France Forum? Here's the link where other British folk in France share information:-

 

http://services.completefrance.com/forums/completefrance-forums/cs/forums/default.aspx?ForumGroupID=34

Edited June 27, 2017 by Ashcombe

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Belated anniverery greatings to GDB & SWMBO and Tony great to hear that things are getting better. Not much to report today, busy getting stuff ready for our exhibition this coming weekend. We had booked two rooms, the same as the last couple of years but the exhibition manager was only told last week that one of the rooms was unavailable and that we would have to use a sports hall instead. We of course had to accept this but the programs including floorplan has been printed, also the alternative hall is on the opposite side of the schools complex and involves a trek to get to. Thats it for now, be back later.