Early Risers.

[The Stationmaster]

Home after a non-visit to Scaleforum. Full details later.

 

I've just bought the book that I'd intended to buy down there from Titfield Thunderbolt, and noticed this on the screen - Mike, do you have anything to do with this?

 

Roman.png

 

Not me guv

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[Gwiwer]

Morning all, for such it is.  

 

A day to remember for many of the wrong reasons.  Departed on time but delayed at Twickenham because some main line diversions were coming through and of course given priority over an otherwise punctual timetabled service.  No matter.  I had allowed plenty of time for a connection at Clapham Junction.  Connection duly boarded we then ground to an unexpected halt north of Horley.  Not unusual given the congestion which is normal at Gatwick these days but the length of stand was unusual.  We took over ten minutes to creep forward the mile or so to Gatwick.  We waited.  We then crept forward a signal at a time and waited up to five minutes at each.  Finally we were informed that a signal failure "in the Balcombe area" was causing delays "Up to 25 minutes".  We finally reached Haywards Heath 45 minutes late and at Hove were put "down the slot" behind the all-stations-to-West Worthing train increasing the arrears to 58 minutes by our destination.   Morning coffee became lunch instead.  

 

The return train at 20.34 was cancelled outright due to "A planning error" according to RTT.  That seems to be code for "Whoops - something went wrong".  OK.  Plan B is take the next Brighton and change there.  RTT proved its worth here as a quick check revealed the up from Brighton was also cancelled but due to a "Signalling problem".  Plan C was to wait for the next direct train at 21.09 which duly arrived 5 minutes late and proceeded to lose more time for no apparent reason including stopping twice in the (closed and gated) up fast platform at Thornton Heath.  The result was a missed connection and 28 minute wait at Clapham Junction.  So we thought.  The 23.01 Kingston was then "delayed" while some problem or another which caused it to be detained 13 minutes in the platform at Vauxhall was sorted out.  We finally reached home at 23.38 and over an hour later than planned.

 

In between trains there was a visit to Worthing MRC's exhibition which proved very worthwhile.  Much bigger than I had expected and with a steady number of visitors without being too busy to see anything or talk to people.  However I was running an hour late so a planned 2 1/2 hour visit was cut to 2 and that didn't do it justice.  3 - 4 hours would have been better.  The limitations of local bus services these days left me with a substantial walk to finally reach mother's well over an hour later than planned but all was otherwise well.  She is tired, extremely frail but mentally alert and still doing most household tasks for herself.  

 

Dinner at sister's with most of her family was an ad-hoc affair as she has been unwell and we all did our bit in the kitchen to help out.

 

Finally I have returned home with several blue and red boxes courtesy of a Mr. Trerise from Camborne whose stall was attracting steady business.  Plus numerous "bits" from other stands which is one of the reasons one goes to such events - to buy bits which may be hard to find or uneconomic to purchase online.  

 

Now - where's the Southern Railway "Delay Repay" link?  I have four claims to upload.  Two of us in each direction delayed by well over the 15 minutes it takes these days to trigger a claim.  A free ride to the coast and back is the least we felt we deserved.

 

Night all.  See you later in the morning!

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BR60103]

Ian:

I took our previous car (Ford Focus) into the grage to have the headlamp bulb replaced. The fellow behind the counter asked if it had cruise control. (no). He said that he had one and the cruise control bits were mounted right behind the headlight.

 

Alternators: Our second motorhome had problems all over the place. It died on one trip and had the alternator replaced. Next day (it took overnight) we managed a couple of hours and came to a dead stop on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. At the next garage, we told about the alternator. The mechanic poked about and pulled out a 2 foot wire with stripped ends. This was the wire that turns on (excites?) the alternator. He said it shouldn't be like that.

[jamie92208]

Morning all fro a very sunny village that despite nearly 3 weeks away still appears to be north of Ikea. Breakfast is being consumed. Beth has had her hand re dressed and I take her back for a new on one Monday. The dining room is full of the contents of the car from yesterday and there is a pile of post to sort and deal with. The trailer is safely back in secure storage. Obviously a lot of pottering will have to be accomplished today, some specified, some unspecified. Hopefully the dining room floor will be cleared as things get sorted, this means we will be able to access the wine. Once that's sorted who cares.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Blue sky and sunshine here and a fine day is forecast.

As usual my muddling plans went awry although I did get a little more done. Will try again later.

Managed to watch the rugby and  Quins just lost to Tigers in a good tight game. Today I will be mainly watching Exeter v Wasps.

By the sound of it The Boss is on patrol so that may bring about an offer of a cooked breakfast. I seem to be in her good books at the moment because yesterday she bought me some beer.   This followed on from the cream doughtnut on Thursday. Thinking about it sensibly though she's probably trying to soften me up for something so I better look out for a surprise flanking manoeuvre.  

Ah, the offer has been made,

See you later - 

and have a good one,

Bob.

Edited September 24, 2017 by grandadbob

[Barry O]

Morning from the misty North West Leeds highlands.

Baz

[New Haven Neil]

Good morning from a rather wet Fraggle Rock.

 

Jamie, I hope Beth's new hand meets with her approval......

 

It has failed to get light here, Mrs H went out to cycle with her friend half an hour ago and it began to throw it down shortly afterwards....no sign of a return yet!

 

PhilJ W I did a little research before helping Jayne on her car shopping trip, the new JD Power results were just out - Koreans at the top, Germans at the bottom.  Really, not what you would imagine, Dom needs to give his countrymen a kick up the fundament.  I note a 'Japanese' motorcycle I bought 4 years ago was actually made in Thailand, and it has performed perfectly, with a finish no different to any Japanese built Honda I have had (a lot).  I understand Triumph make a lot of parts including engines in Thailand now also - so much for 'British'.

[Smiffy2]

Morning all. Croissants and coffee consumed.

 

Back in Blighty, trying to remember where we keep the plates and how the toilet flushes...

 

Good journey yesterday, the péage was calm, the surfaces good. Then to Kent. Cockwombles wherever you look, road surface (that pinky-grey concrete) absolutely hideous.

 

Also straight back into family grief. It seems that other grandmother has been preventing kids from seeing their father - to the extent of shutting them in rooms whilst they call out that they want to see him. Mum was unaware of this, but the girl's behaviour is now disturbed - the youngest keeps saying she wants her Daddy and she loves him. We've done what we can to explain this to Mum but she seems unable to comprehend that kids' behaviour is prompted by the treatment they receive and the mood of people about them.  Daisy is away at Cub Camp this weekend, I'll talk to her tomorrow. But grandmother can do no wrong in mum's eyes (she was, however, quite surprised that grandma gave Daisy's computer away...) The couple have 'mediation' this week. We'll see.

 

Sorry, no seafood, Bazza. The whelkmen were en vacances, comme d'habitude.

 

Julie is off to The Mills, so I'm sorting out stuff and doing some washing. Dan has 'access' to Rose this afternoon, so I don't know where he'll be - here, possibly, but it's a lovely day so far.

 

Andy - very pleased to see your post. Build on that positivity!

Jamie - we must have crossed at some point. We go through the tunnel, so it must have been around Vire! BTW - we use water-filled feet on our gazebo. Easier than casting concrete and work a treat on the patio.

 

Saw a Greek proverb that made me think today. 'A great country is one where old men plant trees under the shade of which they will never sit'. I wish.

 

Have a peaceful day, all.

[New Haven Neil]

Oh Smiffy, that's heart wrenching.

[Barry O]

Dick, I shall stock up on seafood next week. Seems like being a whelkmen would have been a great job:-)

 

I could watch some cricket today either live (finals day at Headingley) or on TV, or do some more modelling or...decisions, decisions.

 

Have a great 24 hours on Planet Earth everyone!

Baz

[jamie92208]

Morning all. Croissants and coffee consumed.

 

Back in Blighty, trying to remember where we keep the plates and how the toilet flushes...

 

Good journey yesterday, the péage was calm, the surfaces good. Then to Kent. Cockwombles wherever you look, road surface (that pinky-grey concrete) absolutely hideous.

 

Also straight back into family grief. It seems that other grandmother has been preventing kids from seeing their father - to the extent of shutting them in rooms whilst they call out that they want to see him. Mum was unaware of this, but the girl's behaviour is now disturbed - the youngest keeps saying she wants her Daddy and she loves him. We've done what we can to explain this to Mum but she seems unable to comprehend that kids' behaviour is prompted by the treatment they receive and the mood of people about them.  Daisy is away at Cub Camp this weekend, I'll talk to her tomorrow. But grandmother can do no wrong in mum's eyes (she was, however, quite surprised that grandma gave Daisy's computer away...) The couple have 'mediation' this week. We'll see.

 

Sorry, no seafood, Bazza. The whelkmen were en vacances, comme d'habitude.

 

Julie is off to The Mills, so I'm sorting out stuff and doing some washing. Dan has 'access' to Rose this afternoon, so I don't know where he'll be - here, possibly, but it's a lovely day so far.

 

Andy - very pleased to see your post. Build on that positivity!

Jamie - we must have crossed at some point. We go through the tunnel, so it must have been around Vire! BTW - we use water-filled feet on our gazebo. Easier than casting concrete and work a treat on the patio.

 

Saw a Greek proverb that made me think today. 'A great country is one where old men plant trees under the shade of which they will never sit'. I wish.

 

Have a peaceful day, all.

Hi Dick, I did wonder if we might cross on Friday as I drove up A10. A28, bit of A11 then A28/A88. The concrete feet are oly for the ex gazebo that now supports the swimming pool cover. The four 4 pint milk bottles that were cut down to fill with concrete had been used to hold the old gazebo down with water in them. The tops that I cut off made marvellous funnels when I had to sort out various petrol driven tools and had to transfer various 2 stroke mixes and neat petrol at one point.

 

The family situation sounds dire. I do hope that you can get to some proper conclusion before the kids get too damaged. As a matter of interest our back room at church gets used quite a lot by Leeds Social Services for family mediation. It's a useful non threatening place and there are other rooms available as breakout rooms. We only ever charge them for the one room but let them have the run of the whole premises when they come.

 

I'm surprised that the whelkmen weren't 'en greve.' (on strike)it seems to be the fashion at the moment.

 

Jamie

Edited September 24, 2017 by jamie92208

[Smiffy2]

We're on Departmentales until north of Vire, and then the A84 to Caen, and the A13/16 across the wonderful Pont de Normandie. It's then motorway all the way to Coquelles. The whole trip takes about four hours. The tunnel is cheaper than the ferry from Ouistreham, but there are extra fuel costs. We like the flexibility, both in terms of changing bookings and arriving early and getting an earlier train - and also Julie is a poor sailor and finds the ferry quite hard work.

[Happy Hippo]

Now for some amusement..................................

 

GDB has taken a day off!

 

Instead his most Hipponess was carrying out the woodworking to the shunting plank frames as mentioned in an earlier post.

 

The PH said 'glue and screw'.

 

Hipponess said 'Na, glue and pin will be sufficient, the pins are only there to prevent any shear'.

 

Hipponess then cuts timber blocks with chop saw, and realises there is quite a bit of pinning to do, so deploys the air nailer.

 

Air nailer working well, but Hipponess can suddenly no longer move his left thumb!

 

On looking down to see what the problem was, there is a 32 mm brad sticking out of the side of the timber which has gone into the tip of my thumb.

 

Must have hit a knot!

 

'It's a war wound' I said to the Obergrumpenfuhrer.

 

'War wound?'

 

'Yes, when the brad shot into my hand, I went Whaaaar!'

 

'Fouled my breeches I did'.

 

'I'm not surprised it must have been very painful'.

 

No not then, when I went Whaaaar!'

 

I spent the rest of the engineering time crimping servo cables together.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Just a quick hello this morning as I'm off out shortly to dispose of a few modelling tokens.

[NGT6 1315]

Mawnin' awl…

 

Wet outside this a.m. while my ladies have fallen back asleep. However, we intend to take a walk over to our garden for obtaining some Savoy cabbage for dinner, some time later!

 

 

And from the "Old and New" category, a lucky capture from my extra shift yesterday:

 

 

 

 

I had been asked whether I could do an additional shift due to footy transport yesterday having tied up many additional staff, and how could I say no when I had the chance for a bit of Line 12 with a proper vehicle, which is, a NGT6?

 

Furthermore, and unexpectedly, I was joined by "The Pullman", which is 1464 from our historic department, on a chartered special which, incidentally, terminated at Gohlis-Nord. After the charter passengers had alighted, my fellow staff took the four-wheeled veteran back to our museum at Möckern. 1464, originally numbered 1565, and for a while 1446, is a "Refurbished Pullman" or Type 22s car originally procured in 1925, as part of a series of 22 such trams.

 

Many of these, including 1464, were upgraded with improved traction equipment and indeed rebuilt with a steel body replacing the original wooden one in the 1960s. A further upgrade carried out in the 1970s enabled the Type 22s cars working with Reko and Gotha type trailers for greater flexibility. Indeed, 1464 remained in revenue service until 1987.

 

 

Have a good'un, mateys…

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

It is a bright sunny morning here.

We may go to a different park today. Possibly the one in Chalkwell as Aditi wants to collect some John Lewis packages she hopes are waiting at Waitrose.

Tony

[BlackRat]

What a grey day said Larry.......

 

Everard bemoans the fact that we have 6 months of this before our 3 day Cornish summer returns!

 

National Trusting today, to wet for biking, spraying, walking, gardening ( thank f......) and a myriad other things.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

The sun shineth and the washing is out - but rain is expected this evening.  Today's roast beef is 'off' - allegedly due to my failure to extract it from the freezer yesterday in sufficient time for it to thaw; quite how I'm expected to know how long it takes beef to thaw is beyond my understanding but I'm taking my admonishment like a man and we'll have sausages instead (no doubt SMOG style) and that provides a means of using the Yorkshire puds which are sitting in the fridge.

 

Like NHN I am intrigued to learn about Beth's new arm and hop that it works well (and, of course, that her wound continues to heal - whatever Jamie has done with the previous arm.

 

Enjoy your day one and all and from Rick's comments it sounds like travel on Southern should be avoided on Saturdays as well as most other days (but at least you had a timetable with connections even if they didn't work - GWR's efforts yesterday, according to laddo, yet again seemed to involve much planning of non-connections).

[Gwiwer]

Morning all. Sun-day currently living up to its name though the seaweed-feelers promise precipitation.

 

A good night's sleep was had interrupted only by his Royal Catness using the bed as a trampoline at one point and the student neighbours (upstairs) doing what students always do namely returning home as Dawn broke.

 

French toast, bacon and maple syrup was enjoyed for breakfast. SWMBO has retired to her room to organise her things for a week in Lostwithiel.

 

Surely it is time Withiel was found and Dawn repaired?

 

Commiserations to His Muddy Hipponess; I hope a good wallow will ease any pain. Best wishes to all.

[Smiffy2]

Oh .

D-i-L has discovered that son is seeing someone else. She's in bits, I'm just off on a rescue mission and to pick up Rose so that D-i-L doesn't have to see him.

 

I really don't have any answers for this mess.

[bluebottle]

We have to worry about how His Hipponess is to be dealt with in a real emergency...

 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon from Estuary-Land. Haven't spent as many modelling tokens as I expected to, only purchased a couple of Oxford Diecast cars, there was nothing else that took my fancy.

 

We have to worry about how His Hipponess is to be dealt with in a real emergency...

 

Ed McLachlan - hippo pad.jpg

Its neither muddy nor hollow.

[New Haven Neil]

Rick, the very first 'Simon's Cat' cartoon dealt with that scenario!  It ends up hitting him with a baseball bat....

 

Lostwithiel is where Mrs NHN's big sis and aunt and uncle live - it's known as 'Lost with Neil' around here.

 

Smiffy what can we say....families, eh.  It's always the kids though, that folk don't think of....