Early Risers.

[southern42]

Belated birthday greetings, John.

 

A parcel was due today and, even allowing for delivery of Christmas cards round the village, 3pm seemed a bit late for the post but...come it did

 

Now I am the delighted owner of a flying banana although blood and custard livery does seem a more appropriate description than the carmine and cream in the photos of W16W at Newbury and Lambourn in Westerm Branches, Western Byways where I fell in love with it in the first place.  I think they ought to put a DANGER sign on railway books before I buy them...!

 

Still drooling but ' night all and nos da for now.

 

Edit typos!

Edited December 14, 2017 by southern42

[DDolfelin]

Dover Ferry access - not a usual view.

(click on it for bigger view).

Edited December 14, 2017 by DDolfelin

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It is a pretty foul morning in this part of the world.  It rained heavily overnight (glad it wasn't snow!) and there is a strong wind blowing.  Not the sort of morning where you feel like getting out of bed.

 

Interesting to see the picture of the Linkspan, DD.  Dover and Calais fairly unique in having double deck linkspans.  This was primarily to increase the speed of loading over the more common on-board ramp which is used to access the upper car deck.  I read somewhere, that as the linkspans are due for renewal in the next few years all new ferries are being built with internal ramps to access the upper car deck.  (See the newer P&O ferries, "Spirit of France" and "Spirit of Britain").  Of course, also that makes them more re-sellable when they enter the next phase of their lives. (often in the Greek Islands).

 

Time for a coffee!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a rather damp village.

 

Yesterday was an interesting day.   I set off with all the best of intentions to do some domestic tasks but had some phone calls to make first.  However I got diverted as I got two texts, via different routes asking if I could stand in as Santa at the church Toddler group party.  That's a first for me so I duly went up, hid in the back room and then donned the supplied costume before handing out various gifts.  Apparently I did OK as only 3 of the little darlings cried.  I even managed to gain some brownie points by finishing the domestic tasks when I got home. In the course of the hovering I found a pair of Beth's glasses under the settee.  I had been accused of losing these by mixing them up with my modelling stuff.   I haven't mentioned this as I suspect it might be seen as churlish.

 

In the evening I duly went out for a meal with the brother in laws and wives.  It didn't go badly so a good evening was had.

 

I can hear movement upstairs so no doubt some tasks will be allocated before Beth sets off for a day out with a friend.   I look forward to actually getting some muddling done.  

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[AndyB]

Morning all, and I've elected to take a day off next week to go to an end-of-year carol concert and then play board games with the kids. So, just a handful of commutes to see the year out.

 

 

 

Dutch Master

 

... but does putting the lid on the pot speed up or slow down the boiling process?

 

Theoretically it will speed up because it increases the pressure ... hence the principle of the 'old' pressure cookers.  In working reality it stops an amount of evaporation of the water on boiling.

 

Peter 

 

I think you'd need to put a brick on top of the lid to stop it lifting as soon as any meaningful pressure built up.

 

An old colleague of mine who used to do a lot of extreme expedition stuff used to spend hour melting ice in order to make a hot drink.

On a high-altitude expedition he noted that because of the reduced pressure the water would definitely boil, it was just that this happened at a much cooler temperature and the resulting tea was disgusting. 

 

Which reminds me that Ran Fiennes is doing a tour in the near future - according to the ads "Coming to a place near you." 

Caveat emptor - Ran's definition of "near" may not align with the average person's 

I'm sure he'll give a good talk - I had lunch with him once or twice and he's quite the raconteur. 

[Barry O]

Hey up!

 

Today will involve some crust earning and on line tax account filling in.

 

Ian A, hope the rest of this year gets better.

 

Poly, blood and custard is a nice combination. I do have some weathered coaches used on Herculaneum Dock.

 

Have as good a day as you can

 

Baz

[chrisf]

Belated good morning one and all

 

I am late on parade because I soaked long and hard in a very warm bath to try and banish the twinges in the lower part of my back.  The seats on examples of East Midland's fleet - Meridian up, HST back - were surprisingly comfortable.  The same unfortunately cannot be said for the chairs in St Pancras Old Church.  I wonder which primary school lent them for the occasion?  The concert was very good.  Jim Moray is one of those musicians who is not slow to reinvent himself.  He gave some tantalising glimpses of forthcoming albums.  One such is somewhere in the Royal Maelstrom on its way to me.  Shucks, I could have bought one last night, even though it is not due for release until February.

 

Tonight's concert venue has been downsized from the Corn Exchange to a nightclub.  Such places are, to put it mildly, unfamiliar.  Eliza Carthy and the Wayward Band have the potential to give a jolly good evening's entertainment and are probably more familiar with nightclubs than I am.

 

I regret the delay to my breakfast today.  This was caused by operational difficulties.  Warm and supportive thoughts, then, to those in distress and recovery, today including Ian A and Simon G.

 

Chris

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Somewhat early start due to laddo's car expressing its disgust with his attempts t enter it by setting off its rather loud alarm - right outside our bedroom window.  So mugatea duly prepared and I'm told 'we'll go shopping early for once' (no doubt to leave me extra time for tackling the d....g r..m).

 

No bruise for me this time Baz but I had a right one last time - I'm fairly sure the needle went through the vein and the result looked quite alarming, alas it does happen from time to time.

 

Thanks DD for the linkspan picture - I'll raise your linkspan with my linkspan, actually in use and captured from the ship's deck.  Have a good day one and all.

 

 

 

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

No rain at the moment after yesterday's downpours but we haven't lost the chance of more. Some sunny spells are possible as well. Allegedly.

Not sure what plans The Boss has in store for today, she's keeping it to herself at the moment.

For my part, I have a little bit of accounting and book balancing to do. It does seem like my muddling tokens will stay where they are at the moment because all my pre-orders appear to be delayed until next year. This means no Christmas presents from me to me. 

Have a good one,

Bob.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Dull. Dry, not too cold here.

Tea being drunk.

I have a couple of very minor diy tasks today.

Also I got some sprouts yesterday so I will have enough time to prepare them for Christmas.

Aditi will probably stay at her Mum's until Saturday morning. Aditi was going to come home on Friday once her sister's flight had taken off from Tenerife but MiL is still feeling dizzy so Aditi decided she will stay until her sister gets home.

Tony

[Coombe Barton]

Morning.

 

I think.

 

Snow overnight which froze into a nice hard crust on the cars. Scrapey time.

 

In work for last day of teaching this year today - wonder how many of them will turn up?

 

Feeding old and fussy dog. Beefy stick - no - sausage - no - ham - no - cheese - maybe a little - biscuit - no - duck liver pate - yes - a bit - croissant - no but I'll lick the butter off.

Edited December 14, 2017 by Coombe Barton

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl Inner Temple Here.

A good night's sleep of 7 hours with a couple of wake ups and turn overs.

 

I've been out with Ben the Border Collie, and we squelched our way around the garden. Up on the areas that go frosty first there is indication that it snowed overnight, it's certainly chilly.

 

Ben is currently curled up next to me, a nice extra heater.

 

I'm about consume a mugacoffee, once that has disappeared, I'll venture down to the railway shed, first to fit hinges and locks to the parcel cupboard inner doors. I'll leave the heater on while I fit them to the cupboard and fit the shelf.

Then I shall return to modify the layout case, as the first plan, I don't think is strong enough.

 

Also some measuring of Tiree boards will occur, to be plotted on to graph paper to see if my ideas for moving Upper Balinoe station will fit.

 

Meantime I have some over long "grass" ordered 3 hours ago on the way, this will be used to hide a baseboard join and trimmed for best effect.

Amazon have had their own delivery service ( couriers ) for some time, they are now taking 7% of the courier market just shipping their own sales...

 

Time too.. consume the coffee..

[emt_911]

Morning all.

 

A terrible nights sleep thanks to my brain failing to shut down and instead kept coming up with ideas to generate more business.

 

Not a great deal planned for the day but I do have a couple of domestic chores to complete.

 

Time for another coffee.

 

Have a good day eveyone

[PeterBB]

Duncan - Just write them down before the 'domestics' take over and your brain has to think them all over again tonight!

 

Cheers, Peter

[emt_911]

Duncan - Just write them down before the 'domestics' take over and your brain has to think them all over again tonight!

 

Cheers, Peter

Morning Peter

 

I grabbed a notepad and pen and put them by the bed last night. It means that I haven't forgotten them this morning.

 

Not conducive to sleep but I now have a list of new ideas.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. No chance of catching any meteor showers last night, the only showers were of the wet sort. The usual dawn chorus of the bin lorries this morning but at least it doesn't include the bottle and glass as this is its week off. Commiserations and congratulations were neccessary, be back later.

[roundhouse]

Morning from a sunny one.

Boiler serviced but he didn't have time to dort our dripping cw storage tank valve. It's fine as long as we don't get a prolonged sub zero spell where the overflow pipe could freeze up.

I can't shut off the mains valve as it's corroded up and he didn't have his long key to shut off the external water mains valve.
I have a spare washer for the cw tank valve for when I can shut off the water to it.

Now on a white worm (Thameslink unit) to LBG. It was late and this time worked in my favour as only just got to the station.

Took these shots at Redhill station

Edited December 14, 2017 by roundhouse

[AndrewC]

On the positive side, my Amazon order of a new passport drive to be used for Pc backups has arrived, along with a batch of hemp oilseed capsules, which contain some cannabis type substances. There is some evidence, unproven medically, that this can help with cancers. As there are no reported side effects, it is worth a try. It doesn’t get the user high (possibly unfortunately!).

If you are talking about CBD oil, I've had mixed experience with it. To start with you need to take it for at least 2 weeks before you will notice anything at all. I was using it for the trapped nerve in my back. Initially helped a bit but the effect soon diminished after the first month. Your mileage may vary. 

[bbishop]

Help!

 

BT internet has decided to maximise the advertising space, leaving about an inch in the middle to read and write e-mails. Trying to catch and drag achieves nothing.

 

Then in trying to self diagnose (never a good thing with me and computers), I've unticked and lost my menu bar.

 

How do I resolve, please?

 

Bill

[Smiffy2]

Urgh. Still got the lurgi. Getting colder here after a mild start. Whelkmen planning a trip to the Azores, I believe. 

 

Up early for a governors meeting. Many things which used to be rubber-stamped at full govs now have to be rubber stamped by committees and then sent to full govs to be - err - rubber stamped. This apparently makes sense. Today we approved the admissions policy, which is the same as last year, but got in a monitoring visit as well, looking at attendance and the assorted procedures (SIMMS initiated).

 

Julie spitting teeth because one of her co-operative partners is refusing to answer his phone so she has a 40 minute round trip to give him a message... He doesn't have many teeth and may end the day with less.

 

At 8am this morning I got a message from our next-door neighbour to go and wake her husband up so that he gets the child to nursery on time... working at home, eh?  I used to do that but never told them which home. Or bar.

 

Have a good day, one and all. No, seriously...

[southern42]

' Morning all from red dragon land. 

Oo-oo.  The sun has got his hat on.  Could be a good day...I am feeling a bit better, anyway.

 

AndyB said:

Which reminds me that Ran Fiennes is doing a tour in the near future - according to the ads "Coming to a place near you." 

Caveat emptor - Ran's definition of "near" may not align with the average person's 

I'm sure he'll give a good talk - I had lunch with him once or twice and he's quite the raconteur.

 

 

"Near" in this part of the world generally means: past DD of this parish and across the border into England - like the Liverpool, Manchester and Wigan exhibitions for instance!  Warley is a b...i...t further but we have sussed the train services and, this year, got there an hour earlier with some clever connections! (Simplest is ATW direct via Shrewsbury, stops everywhere, and takes all day! See next!)

For Cardiff:  Fastest train (Arriva Trains Wales via Chester and Shrewsbury) is 3h:57min with no changes.  Did it on my 60th birthday! By car 4h:40min (according to one website). 

Cardiff is on the cards again but by another route.  More on that, later, if it we decide to go.

 

Time for a cuppa, lunch, cuppa.  Then it is getting those Christmas cards done....

 

...back later...?

[Tony_S]

Just had a phone call from Aditi. She was sitting in the car while her Mum went into the hearing aid clinic at the hospital. She can't wait to get home and it is only because she is a nice person she hasn't done so. Aditi is getting a lecture about diet at every meal with stories about some relative who has had terrible consequences from their diabetes. Aditi is perfectly capable of managing her condition and her diabetic nurse is pleased with her, especially since Aditi retired. I think if I hadn't been in the infectious state with my cold and cough Aditi might have brought MiL over here for a few days. Something has gone wrong with the communal satellite dish system in Mils flat and her access to Indian films and tv programmes has been affected giving her more time to be critical of Aditi. Aditi apologised for whinging to me. Good thing is that it reminds her how much she likes home!

Tony

[Horsetan]

....Something has gone wrong with the communal satellite dish system in Mils flat and her access to Indian films and tv programmes has been affected giving her more time to be critical of Aditi.....

 

i wonder what Indian daytime telly must be like....

 

 

....actually, no I don't.

[Ozexpatriate]

i wonder what Indian daytime telly must be like....

 

 

....actually, no I don't.

There's usually some cricket on.

[PhilJ W]

Help!

 

BT internet has decided to maximise the advertising space, leaving about an inch in the middle to read and write e-mails. Trying to catch and drag achieves nothing.

 

Then in trying to self diagnose (never a good thing with me and computers), I've unticked and lost my menu bar.

 

How do I resolve, please?

 

Bill

To get your menu bar back try restarting your computer. To get rid of the ads install an ad blocker, I use Adblock Plus which has the advantage it can be disabled on 'free' sites (Such as RMweb).